To me, the main dollar cost in immigration is what's thrown to shuffle people around. Illegal immigrants are in the odd position where they pay some taxes (not all, admittedly), yet receive nothing in government benefits for said taxes, like the rest of us do. Streamlining the visa process, encouraging both sides of the border to invest in each other, and give workers here a legal precedent for remaining, so they can both pay the additional taxes required (a financial boom), and receive government services seems like the best option to me. A better-done Bracero program, perhaps?

Iran is as nutty as America is. I'm not sure getting involved in their cold war is going to help things - and if we did, we should't be siding with the Sauds, either. Quds Force is sus, but there's pest control, and there's kicking the hornet's nest.

NATO has essentially become defense outsourcing for the other nations involved. The Defense industry isn't complaining - we're now a superpower for hire. Honestly, what we should be doing is transitioning from that into joint US-EU defense agreements, which would be more effective and cost-efficient for everyone around.

The economy is for the people, and not vice-versa - if we die, so does the system. Best way to keep it afloat is to keep ourselves afloat.

Best Korea's been hell-bent on nukes for ages, and I think the only reason we haven't done anything about it is because China already got theirs decades earlier. If you have the (nuclear) power, you have bargaining chips - this has been NK's end game for ages. I don't have an easy answer for that, beyond better development of anti-nuke tech, and pressuring the communists out of China.

Concerning who to bomb and when, we are not the judge, jury, and executioner of the world. We sure as hell ain't footing the defense bill for it either. Unless we've been paid to be involved (again, a "superpower for hire"), we won't be.

Oil is a thing of the past. Renewable energy is here, now, and highly lucrative.

Concerning student loan forgiveness, I have to respectfully disagree. Partial and/or whole loan forgiveness, combined with better legislation and rulings against predatory loan practices, will vastly benefit all involved (save for the loan sharks, but they need to be netted).

I wish the new administration success too. Not everyone may like the results, but the least we can do is find common ground with our neighbors. Good to see you posting again, RobVG.