Have you ever heard of any one in Washington talking about how Social Security is and always has been one of the Largest Stimulus Packages in America.
We hear them say SS is an “Entitlement Program” when in fact it is and has always been “OUR” Money.
(We put the money in and Congress Stole it and had they left it in the original interest bearing account, I would be receiving about $2,900.00 per month in place of the $900.00 I now receive).
Do these Fools in Washington wonder what happens to All that Money that is sent out to US every month?
(Again it is/was OUR Money).
Here is what happens to that money is Goes Right Back in to our Economy.
It creates Jobs and helps Companies Grow.
If that is not a Plus to Our Economy, then I don’t know what is.
The Fools in Washington think stimulating growth in our labor force is to put more people on the Government Pay Roll. When in fact it only adds more burden on WE the TAXPAYERS.
How do we FIX this problem?
A few suggestions are:
Term Limits
Anyone running for election can’t receive any “Out Side) money to run for office. (Not one Penny)
Say, I wanted to run for Congress and I qualified as to some Set Rule, then we give that person a “Amount Certain” of Tax Payer Money and when and if they spend that amount they can’t receive any more money and therefore they are not taking funds that they will need to re-pay with Laws to “RE-PAY” various Companies for this Pay Back Money.
(I call that “Beholden” Money)
We don’t need 6 months to a year, to hear what a person (trying to get elected) tells us lie after lie, about the Great Things he/she are going to do for “We The People” And not for “We The Company” who gave me all that money to Run for Office with.
Now if You give me say ($20,000.00) or so to run and I get elected, does any one really think that if I get a chance to re-pay you for your “Nice” Contribution, I would not help You? (that is human Nature)
Any one who thinks otherwise is truly a Fool.
Folks it is all about “Money and Power” something happens to a person who gets elected for office and they Mostly change to a Power Driven Person.
A little foot note:
Over 90% of Congress are Attorneys that have never run a business or had to make a “Pay-Roll” and they are trying to run the largest Business in the World and their “Track Record” proves their Success. (None)
ChefBob—I like a lot of what you have cooked up here. However, I’m concerned that part of your menu will not be that nutritious toward the health of election campaign reform.
Regulating, through campaign reform laws, how much you can spend on your campaign for congress and from where you can get that money, may be do-able (though not without some difficulty). But stopping me, as a free and private citizen, from using my money (pretending for the moment that I had some money) to buy ads supporting you for the office I want you in would be a problem. The First Amendment protection of free speech would prohibit that kind of restriction on my use of my money. So the wealthy fat-cats will always be able to buy political favors through the financial aid they provide to politicians.
Personally, I think that attempting to reduce political corruption by controlling campaign financing is looking in the wrong direction. The source of the corruption is in the power which congress has. The more areas of our lives; of our businesses; of our industries; of our financial institutes; and of our educational systems; that we allow congress to have power over—the more we create the incentive for people to want to buy control of that power. Reduce the power and you reduce the corruption.
Reducing the corruptive power of government is one of the primary objectives of the Tea-Party efforts to return government back to the limited government that it once was. It is not going to be an easy thing to do because too many people have too much invested in the Big-Government that now exists. We need to put them on a serious diet. (Speaking politically of course.)
Thank you so very much for your input and I agree with a lot of what you say. But I still think there should be some kind of limit both Personal and Private funding. You do talk about power and I agree, but if we can't learn about people running for Congress in 60 or 90 days then we get just what we have now and some are already running for the next election in place of taking care of our business.
I personally (know it would never happen) limit the about of Attorneys (%) in congress. Most have never run a business or made a pay roll and yet are trying to run the largest business in the world.
No wonder we are in the mess we are in. They should take a lesson from Walmart and it shows that Volume over comes all "Shrinkage" or losses but our guys in Washington just want to keep wanting the few to pay for their folly.
I saw today where it was said why would you want to get of find a job if you can sit at home and draw about $200.00 A week?
I started to work at 11 years old (now 82) AND got paid .19 an hour and worked 108 hours one week during WWII. Boy was I rich.
ChefBob, You’re welcome. And I think you for being willing to share your views here. I think your ideas are very valid but like so many good ideas they may be difficult to implement.
As I get older myself (now 65) I find it more difficult to find reasonable people to have discussions with who are older than I am. Seems like everybody are kids nowadays. One of the things I like about the AMAC Forum is that the people here are at least mature.
I agree 100% that people who can get paid to sit at home are not so likely to look for work.
I never worked for 19 cents an hour but I do remember when a gallon of heating oil went from 17 to 19 cents a gallon. My wife and were newly married at the time and we had to adjust our first family budget to allow for the increase. My wife quickly learned how to stretch a dollar. I think too few serving in congress ever had to do that. That’s a big part of the problem with government.