My cat and I were discussing the women in our lives, and we entered into a heated discussion about congress and the current woes we find throughout this great land. He was talking with his girlfriend, Jazzy (She is big into politics and weather); they were expressing how no one seems wiling to make the tough decisions. They (our politicians) just want to continue to kick the problems down the road. It’s an election year, it’s this, its that…there’s always a reason NOT to do something. He was so irate (and the fact that she was nipping his nose) that he composed a letter to our representatives. I’d like to share the letter with you….
Mr. President, Senators, Congressmen, and Supreme Court Justices:
The current state of the economy is troubling. All avenues for the average Joe to make a decent living and retire are slowly being eroded.
If I may start with Social Security, I have been paying into that fund for my entire working life. Required by law even. But Congress took it beyond retirement and added all kinds of benefits that were not initially considered, nor funded. In addition, to finance short term goals, provided IOUs to the fund which we cannot repay.
I was told to invest in the Stock Market. It was the only way over time that I would be able to amass enough wealth to retire and be able to take care of myself in my old age. Hey, surprise, the game is rigged. Market volatility is such that only the Wall Street Firms and their Traders are making money.
We drank the cool aid of Global Markets. We gave away manufacturing, opened our doors to cheap overseas goods, and in the process threw away the ladder for Americans to provide a better future for their children. Soon, the only jobs remaining will require two incomes to break the poverty level.
Education was the next great carrot. Everyone is an MBA. Make tons of money, and the government will lend you all you need to get that education. Of course the centers of Higher Education (profit and non-profit) raised their tuition to cover every dime that a student could earn, beg, or borrow. And then, when all the graduates with boilerplate educations could not get a job, and saddled with debt that they may never pay off… we gave the lenders a free pass so this debt could not be discharged through bankruptcy.
Oh, and let’s not forget the great American Dream… Home Ownership. Prices will never go down, and Congress encouraged lenders to sell subprime and no document loans to folks that never should have qualified. Balloon payments, ever increasing interest rates, the educated and uneducated bought the hubris. And then… cold hard reality crept in… borrower after borrower defaulted. Even responsible borrowers were underwater. We fined the banks, but whose fault was it?
If I may quote Charlie Reese, “One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices. 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.”
So in the spirit of his letter. I’d like to nominate our president (we can go ahead and add both Bushes & Clinton), our 9 Supreme Court Justices, and 534 voting members of Congress to be the Asshole(s) of the Month – September 2015.
I know your crunching the numbers. You are correct, there are 535 voting members of congress, not 534. I am however leaving out one member of Congress in my nomination as an Asshole. My representative, Scott Rigell is leading by example. I do not agree with all of his initiatives: but you cannot deny these three actions:
- He declined federal health care. He pays for his own healthcare.
- He does not take a salary. He returns his salary to the US Treasury.
- Introduced legislation to withhold public matching of retirement plans unless there is a balanced budget in place.
If there are other members of Congress doing the same, I’ll pull them off the asshole list – otherwise they stay! Mr. Rigell has pledged to only run for 6 terms (12 years) representing our district. While he will still get a pretty cool pension package, I hope his replacement will have the same dedication to PUBLIC service.
Wow – 547 Assholes! Almost two years worth of bungholes, enough to take us through the next election cycle.
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