Stand up and speak out

What are they doing? I never ceased to be amazed at their actions. Do any of them know how to balance a check book? I am speaking of congress of course. Does anybody remember the House banking scandal of 1992? 450 members of congress and other House officials wrote checks on the house bank that they did not have funds to cover. The house bank would honor them with the understanding that the member would pay them - - - sometime. No fees, no penalty, no responsibility. For some it was hundreds of checks that were effectively overdrafts outstanding for Years!

Most of us can not withstand the temptation that comes with the ability to write our own rules. For many generations it was the press who stood as the guardian against abuse. We know longer have the luxury of a press that is a true watchdog. They have become so biased in their own agenda that they can not speak out when they see corruption for fear of harming their own agenda. So it falls to us the citizens of this great country to be vigilant and hold our officials accountable.

The "Government" is out of control and lacks the ability to govern itself. While the rest of us are tightening our belts and our companies are laying off employees, the Government is spending and has added 25,000 new jobs since the first of the year. The only problem is, it's our money, and our children's money and our grand children's money.

The president says "he can not just kick the can down the road". He says that we must address these "problems" now. That sounds all well and good, but we are kicking the bill for all of this down the road. No one who is in congress now, has any expectation of being in congress when we start to pay for this. Think about it they are spending our grand children's money because they know they won't be there to answer for it. They will be at home with generous pensions and benefits guaranteed for life - - -by the rest of us.

Their are countless programs available (many sponsored by the government) that council people on how to get their financial house in order. As far as I know, not one of them, has ever advocated borrowing your way to financial well being. You pay down your debt and then you buy if you have a need.

By the way, for the record, this is not a Democrat or Republican issue, it is a political leadership issue, or lack there of. Our political leaders think we can't handle honesty and reality. I think we can. I think it is the lack of faith that our political leaders have in us that is the crime here. The citizenry is grounded in reality. We must pay our bills every day, we have to make hard choices and set priorities. We are used to it. Most of us shoulder our personal responsibility quite well. Our elected leaders are simply not grounded in the real world. They pander to our base nature, and we let them get away with it.

I think we have lost faith in our leaders. I think that is why we have taken the position that these folks are never going to do the right thing, so I might as well get "mine". We are better than that. We are better than those who seek to lead us!

Stand up, speak out, demand that that congress be responsible for their actions. It is not to late, we can make a difference. Just because congress doesn't get it, doesn't mean we have to act like we don't. Don't let them cower you down with talk of fairness. We cannot make everyone equal. We cannot make life fair for everyone. Where did we ever get that notion, and where does it stop? Everyone deserves a house, everyone deserves healthcare, everyone deserves a Cadillac, every kid deserves $200 Nikes. If we don't have lifeboats for everyone, do we all drown in an attempt to be "fair".

What if it is to late you say, well I would still rather go down swinging. I have to look my grandchildren in the face, and explain why my generation stood by and did nothing to save theirs. I don't want to do that, do you?

$100 million

That my friends is a lot of money! No question about that, so why am I so outraged that the President has called for his cabinet to save $100,000,000? It is simple really, it is a disingenuous effort whose sole aim is to sooth an outraged electorate with a mere token of an effort.

Let's put this in perspective. Let's say your family spends $60,000 a year on "stuff". Things like your house, cars, clothes, food, you know stuff. Now, as the head of the family you announce that things are really tough. We have to make sacrifices and cut back. We are going to go through our budget "line by line" and come up with some savings. We are going to target wasteful spending. We all know we have some wasteful spending, right? Now here is our goal, $6. That's right we spend $60,000 a year on stuff and all I am looking for in savings is $6!

Based on the Federal budget that the President has submitted, and passed, that is what we are talking about. Congress this year gave themselves an additional $400 million to run congress. Are we so naive that we can accept this as a real effort to curb spending. I hope not, but I wonder. I guess when the Cabinet members come back in 90 days that they will give us way more than was asked for, and they will be lauded for their efforts. Let's say they come up with $250 Million. Our politicians will slap themselves on the back , march on TV and tell us what a great job they are doing for us "the people".

When that happens, just remember that is like taking 15 bucks out of a $60,000 budget.

The President has just asked for 100 BILLION dollars for the International Monetary Fund. He said the funding "does not represent a budgetary expenditure or any increase in the deficit since it effectively represents an exchange of assets." The last time I heard this kind of garbage, somebody was trying to explain to me how a "credit default swap" was a good tool for financial institutions. The only thing I got out of that was the "default" part. We all know how that worked out, right!

This money is to loan to countries in "Emerging Markets". You know what an emerging market is don't you? It is a country with bad credit that can't borrow money form anyone who expects to get it paid back. Kinda like a sub-prime home loan! As I remember, didn't that turn out bad for all of us? You think we could take a billion or two out of that "asset exchange"?

If we don't wake up, will will qualify for one of these loans from the IMF ourselves. Maybe we can take them our budget where we saved the $6 as proof that we can be trusted with their money.

I love my country, and I want to support our President. We all need for him to be successful. It disappoints me to see him play these kind of games aimed at a public which he believes can be manipulated so easily. Such action is beneath the dignity of the office, and speaks volume about what he thinks of our intellect. I guess he has a right to expect us to be naive, after all we elected a first term senator with less than a years experience before he started his run for the presidency. I don't think I would go to a heart surgeon that had only been to medical school for only 1 year before he hung out his shingle. But then again that is an important job.


For the sake of your children and grand children, hold your elected officials responsible. Let your voice be heard before it is to late!