THE DEBT CEILING AND CONGRESS

Ok, what we know is that Congress needs to vote to raise the debt ceiling of the United States of America by August 2. Our debt will be $14.29 Trillion at that time and we still need to have room to take on more debt!

Why do you think we need to have room to add more debt? Well, the answer is simple. 18% percent of every dollar the government spends goes to interest. Yes, that is right; it goes to pay interest on the existing debt. So what is happening is that the debt never gets reduced; it only goes up because we don’t have a surplus of revenues over expenses.

To put this in simpler terms; it is just like the mortgage loans that were made to help create our current economic crisis. They just paid interest and in many cases did not even pay enough to cover the interest so the balance of principle went up. That is where our country is right now. To put it in even more simpler terms; no economic unit can continuously spend more than it takes in. That is the road to bankruptcy!

Now the parties are arguing about how to fix the current mess that they and their predecessors created. The Democrats want to cut some spending and raise taxes by eliminating the Bush tax cuts among other things. The Republicans want to cut a lot of spending and leave taxes alone. All this is in return for raising the debt ceiling, which is a conceptual problem all by itself. So they have been at a standoff.

Before I go any further, do you know that all the income taxes paid in this country are paid by only 50% of the people? What, how can this be? Well, with all the entitlement programs and all the tax breaks for low earners and low tax brackets themselves that is how it all works out. Now, I will grant that much of this is needed. But, taken as a whole, 50% don’t pay any taxes? The burden of running our massive government (a problem in itself) falls on only one half of the tax paying public!

Now back to the question of how to get everyone off dead center and make something happen by August 2 because if nothing happens by then do you have any idea of the economic turmoil that will be created? The bond market goes crazy and interest rates sky rocket because no one has confidence in US government bonds. The stock market probably craters due to the anticipated effect on our economy. We will see a recession like we have never seen before both in terms of degree and length!

We currently have grown adult Congress people acting like children; not just the Democrats but the Republicans as well. In fact, our very own (I live in Virginia) Eric Cantor is leading the way in childishness.

What is the right solution? Seems kind of easy doesn’t it. Only agree to raise the debt level if substantial expenses are cut (3 to 4 Trillion) and ok, yes, let’s close a few tax loopholes (there are many to choose from). While we are at it; let’s pass a balanced budget amendment. Also, let’s take the payroll ceiling off Social Security Earnings and make the cost of living formula more realistic. Make some changes in Medicare to reduce costs. Most important, if we close some tax loopholes, some of those must be to increase the percentage of people actually paying taxes.

Lastly, we need to make some changes in how Congress works. For example, they don’t have the same health care plans as we do, they don’t have to abide by insider trading rules (nor does their staff), they get a full pension after working in Congress for only 4 years, they vote themselves raises when they want to, they take advantage of overseas travel for themselves, their spouses and their staff, etc. All this needs to change!

What can you do? Several things. First of all you can write or email your Congress people and tell them to quit playing games and get something done. Second of all, if they don’t, vote them out. In fact, until they quit acting like children on all issues, we should keep voting them out until we get some people in there who want to do good things for the country instead of trying to get reelected 24/7!

Nuff said!

ELECTION DAY: IT IS TIME TO VOTE!

Ok, what planet are you living on? Have you not been paying attention to what is going on? Have you seen the shift to socialism in our country? Have you been observing what Congress has been doing or not doing?

Just in case you don’t know, let me fill you in on a couple things.

The Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year. Congress has been trying to address this issue but decided it was just too tough to deal with and adjourned for their “fall break”. They might get to it, along with a lot of other issues, when they come back. This is an example of them not really wanting to address what needs to be done.

Another example: did you know that Congress and their many many overpaid aides are not required to comply with all the insider trading rules that the rest of us in this country have to comply with. This should be an outrage. The Wall Street Journal, in the October 11, 2010 issue, has documented a number of occurrences that would normally be insider trading violation issues except for the fact that the potential perps were Congress people and/or their aides. How much more aloof and out of touch can they be? How could a law like this get passed in the first place? This should tell us that things need to change.

Not to mention that Congress has their own elitist health care plan and retirement plan.

Do you realize that there are 536 people in our country that decide everything that happens? We the people don’t decide anything except the election of our 100 Senators and 435 Representatives and 1 President. We have a unique opportunity in this upcoming election and ones after that. We can change out all of them over time.

I urge you to vote in the upcoming elections. This is the greatest country in the world however all great civilizations rise and fall. If we don’t do something, we could be on the downside of greatness. Our debt is too high and getting higher due to rising annual deficits. No country can keep on doing this.Look at what is happening in Europe. France and its long time socialism are having major fiscal problems. They are trying to raise their retirement age from 60 to 62 and the people are going nuts. Can you believe this; they don’t want to work past age 60 and they want the state to take care of them. Where do they think the money comes from?
Same thing is going on in Great Britain. They are having massive cutbacks and the people are raising hell.

That is what happens with socialism; the people think that money comes from the government and is unending. They don’t want to work and have lost all initiative.

This could happen to us if we don’t do something about it.

THE TIME IS NOW. Vote for a change in Congress. We need term limits. We need people in congress who will really represent what the majority of the country wants and not what will benefit them individually. We need Congress to have the same health care and pension plans that the rest of us have. We need to reverse the socialistic trends that we have embarked on. We need to reward entrepreneurship and initiative.

GET OUT AND VOTE!