Ok, so I’m sure that like me you’ve been following the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling with bated breath, and like me, I’m sure that many of you have wondered why some in our congress refuse to raise taxes, while others don’t want to cut programs for the poor and disenfranchised. Well this article will hopefully give you some insights into why unless you and I wake up and vote every single person currently in office out, we’ll never be able to balance the budget.
Twenty years ago I was a Federal employee working under a retirement system called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Now you have to understand that CSRS was without question the greatest retirement system ever created aside from that provided to the House and Senate of the United States. You see unlike people in traditional private sector employment who paid into Social Security, with CSRS, I didn’t have to contribute a single penny to my retirement. In addition, had I stayed in government service, I would have been able to retire at age 55 with 25 years of service and collect full retirement and have full health insurance benefits at the expense of the American Taxpayer for the rest of my life. I don’t tell you this story to pick on Federal Employees, I’m telling you this as an example of why our government can’t balance the budget or get spending under control. I personally know of a number of Conservative Americans collecting retirement under CSRS who believe in their hearts that we have to cut spending, however if you mention limiting Cost of Living Increases for them, they squeal like pigs. You see, when these folks think about cutting spending, their thinking about an entire different class of people, they can’t fathom a world where they would have to sacrifice so that others might benefit.
The Tea Party – Many in the Tea Party ran on a platform of cutting spending, and during the Debt Ceiling Negations, they made a point of ensuring that none of their rich friends, neighbors or contributors paid one penny in additional taxes. Now please don’t get me wrong, I like the rest of you don’t want to pay any more in taxes than I have to, but before you elevate the Tea Party Congress men and women to hero status, consider the following.
Michele Bachman, the queen of the Tea Party and presidential candidate also happens to be the queen of sucking on the Government Tit. Yep, that’s right, good ole Michele’s family farm has collected more than $251,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2006, yet she describes programs to help poor people as Socialism, and oh by the way, her husband’s counseling service also receives subsidies from the Federal Government. I guess that to Michele if you’re trying to help folks who can’t help themselves, you’re a Socialist, but if you’re helping yourself to the tax payer’s money you’re a (___________________________) you fill in the blank!
In addition to Bachman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa who describes Obama as a Socialist has taken over a million dollars in Farm subsidies, although most of that amount ($699,248) went to his son and the remaining $239,000 going directly into Grassley’s pocket. I could go on for a couple of days like this, but let me just give you some additional examples and we’ll move on:
Sam Brownback (R) Kansas $500K over 11 years, Rep Stephen Fincher (R) Tennessee who’s bio says he’s a farmer and gospel singer has pocked over 3 million dollars between 1995 and 2009, Rep Vicky Hartzler (R) MO got $775K and the list goes on and on. These people are your Tea Party Patriots, they are the people you’re relying on to cut spending, yet they and their consistutiant's continue to suck on the tit of government subsidies to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Make no mistake, while my focus has been on Tea Party members, there are also a number (about half as many) Democrats sucking on that tit as well, however they for the most aren’t the ones banging the monkey about controlling spending on one hand while pocketing millions in taxpayer subsidies with the other, but make no mistake, their all guilty.
Last year the US Congress spent over 4.8 Billion dollars to prop up corporate farmers, all the while trying to make you and I believe that we need to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamps and Head Start in an effort to keep us out of default with our foreign creditors.
Most of my friends are Conservatives, and whenever I talk to them about welfare, or other government assistance, I almost always walk away with the feeling that unfortunately they don’t see the face of people getting government assistance looking anything like theirs. You see, in America, we tolerate Corporate Welfare, tax breaks and loop holes for those who don’t really need them because those folks create jobs! Really, how many jobs have been created in the last 4 years? When George Bush entered office, the unemployment rate was around 4%, when he left office it was close to 7.5%, and after 2 years of Obama, it’s slightly above 9.2%. Bush cut taxes and continued to give corporations subsidies, and Obama continued the Bush Tax cuts, yet there are no additional jobs and every day I read that major corporations are laying off additional workers.
As long as the politicians can keep the middle class and poor at each other’s throats, this country will continue to decline. Most people have no idea what those they vote for stand for, or many of those in office would be out making honest livings like the rest of us. Did any of you knowingly vote for folks telling you that you or your parent’s social security benefits need to be cut while they were taking subsidies from that same government? If your answer is yes, at best you’re an idiot, worse case, you’re misinformed.
Stop watching ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX and find other ways to inform yourself, or you’ll continue to make the same mistakes when you vote. If you’re rich, you can afford to put people into office who don’t have the best interest of the country at heart. If you’re not rich, you had better wake up and realize that the next poor face that you see might be staring back at you in the mirror someday soon!
I’m Just Sayin!!
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