{"id":2017,"date":"2015-09-08T00:07:18","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T04:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=2017"},"modified":"2015-09-07T11:01:16","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T15:01:16","slug":"2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2017","title":{"rendered":"We the People…are pissed off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"We<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0throughout this great land.\u00a0 He was talking with his girlfriend, Jazzy (She is big into politics and weather);\u00a0they were expressing how no one seems wiling to make the tough decisions.\u00a0 They (our politicians) just want to continue to kick the problems down the road.\u00a0 It’s an election year, it’s this, its that…there’s always a reason NOT to do something.\u00a0 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….<\/p>\n

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Mr. President, Senators, Congressmen, and Supreme Court Justices:<\/p>\n

The current state of the economy is troubling.\u00a0 All avenues for the average Joe to make a decent living and retire are slowly being eroded.<\/p>\n

If I may start with Social Security, I have been paying into that fund for my entire working life.\u00a0 Required by law even.\u00a0 But Congress took it beyond retirement and added all kinds of benefits that were not initially considered, nor funded.\u00a0 In addition, to finance short term goals, provided IOUs to the fund which we cannot repay.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Hey, surprise, the game is rigged.\u00a0 Market volatility is such that only the Wall Street Firms and their Traders are making money.<\/p>\n

We drank the cool aid of Global Markets.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Soon, the only jobs remaining will require two incomes to break the poverty level.<\/p>\n

Education was the next great carrot.\u00a0 Everyone is an MBA.\u00a0 Make tons of money, and the government will lend you all you need to get that education.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And then, when all the graduates with boilerplate educations could not get a job, and saddled with debt that they may never pay off\u2026 we gave the lenders a free pass so this debt could not be discharged through bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Oh, and let\u2019s not forget the great American Dream\u2026 Home Ownership.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And then\u2026 cold hard reality crept in\u2026 borrower after borrower defaulted.\u00a0 Even responsible borrowers were underwater.\u00a0 We fined the banks, but whose fault was it?<\/p>\n

If I may quote Charlie Reese, \u201cOne hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices.\u00a0 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.”<\/p>\n

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So in the spirit of his letter.\u00a0 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\u00a0to\u00a0be the Asshole(s) of the Month – September 2015.<\/p>\n

I know your crunching the numbers.\u00a0 You are correct, there are 535 voting members of congress, not 534.\u00a0 I am however leaving out one member of Congress in my nomination as an Asshole.\u00a0 My representative, Scott Rigell <\/a>is leading by example.\u00a0 I do not agree with all of his initiatives: but you cannot deny these three actions:<\/p>\n