Runaway Train

Door to door

I’ve been out around the neighborhood a lot recently, knocking on doors and getting to know people. It seems that everyone I meet wants a change in Washington. And it’s not hard to see why. Many more people are loosing their homes to foreclosure, unemployment is still hovering around 10% and government deficit spending, a major contributor to the problem, continues at a record pace.

We stand on the very edge of a major economic melt-down, similar to what is already happening in Europe, where high expectations on the part of the people as to what their countries should do for them and low expectations on the part of the same people as to what they should be doing for their countries, have made a huge mess of things.

We’re heading for the same place for the same reasons. The poor don’t want to work, the working people want to live like kings, and the wealthy want no-risk gambling for themselves. Did I cover everyone? This is a crisis of expectations more than anything else. We talk about how rich America is without realizing that all wealth is finite and perishable. Wealth is created, renewed and sustained by work, and a population unwilling to work reduces the wealth of nation. For America to continue to lead the world in Freedom and Justice, we must lead the world in work. 

So what would I work towards if I were Representative for Missouri’s 3^rd Congressional district? Balancing the budget is a must. How? Let’s start trimming the Federal budget:

-       Cut all non-military salaries by 10%,

-       Switch from pensions to retirement accounts funded by deductions from salary

-       Raise the retirement age for those with pensions to 65

-       Trim each department’s budget by 20%

-       Withdraw the majority of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. 

-       Raise Social Security early retirement to 67 & eliminate cap on contributions

-       Eliminate the earned income credit

-       End franking privileges for congressmen

-       Suspend implementation of new health care law for 10 years

Then let’s increase revenue:

-       Institute temporary federal sales tax on electronics, alcohol and all interstate sales (dedicate receipts to debt reduction)

-       Help cover homeland security costs with temporary fee on incoming visitors

At the same time, let’s take some concrete steps to create more employment.

-       Dialogue with industry leaders to build American manufacturing

-       Encourage cottage industry and individual initiative; ease self-employment rules

-       Give incentives to small business to hire and retain employees

 All of the above ideas are necessary and important to building a stronger, better America and the sooner we get started, the better. You can help. Please contact me at 314-504-6692 or campaign2010@edwardcrim.com 

or 

Citizens to Elect Edward Crim

7019 Mitchell Avenue

St. Louis, Missouri 63117

What makes you any different?

Talking to people on the street, while canvassing door to door and where ever else I strike up a conversation, I frequently hear them express disillusionment with politics and their elected representatives. And with good reason! The same disillusionment is what has propelled me from private life into the political arena.

“Political leaders are out of touch with the people,” is a refrain I hear a lot (and I think it’s true). When local meetings with constituents started getting rowdy, many members of congress just quit having meetings. Imagine that, our representatives are afraid of us! What effect does this have on a representative democracy? What are our members of Congress thinking as they cower in Washington, unwilling to return to their homes without an escort? Is there no one brave enough to stand in front of a hostile crowd and defend his actions? Are there no real leaders in America today?

Political activism is frequently seen as a ladder to power and wealth. In nations around the world, politicians build themselves up as they move to each higher rank, frequently at the expense of the people they claim to serve. In our own country, many state and local officials seem to view their offices as mere rungs on the climb to a greater rank, and are looking to build their own power and wealth as they advance. We, the people, are not blind to this seeming self-serving attitude on the part of those who want to lead us, and it generates a lot of skepticism among us.

“What makes you any different?” is a question I’ve gotten a lot.

“Why should we think you’ll do as you say if you get elected? People will say anything to get elected.”

Just a few days ago, a local political activist accosted me with the following question:

“You say you’re pro-life now, but would you sell your vote like Bart Stupak did, and just bend to pressure from the party bosses?”

These are potent questions, born out of frustration with the status quo of American politics; the flip-flop of the last thirty years between big-spending Republicans and big-spending Democrats, and with Supreme Court rulings defining new rights not previously even imagined.

For many in America, myself included, Roe v Wade was a watershed event, a signal that law making was shifting from the control of the people, through their representatives, to a powerful elite, fundamentally different in their thinking from the general populace (whom this elite feel no particular obligation to represent). The rights of a society to define itself (through institutions such as marriage and on issues such as the value of human life and punishment of criminals), are sacrificed on the altar of individualism. We see some people who profess to believe what we believe, act against that belief, and we come to doubt everyone. A certain cynicism about politics is in vogue.

I have no personal political ambitions. I have never particularly liked politics and am quite content to lead a private life. I am presenting myself to the people for one reason; to correct the error of the age, the idea that we can have something great and good without great cost to ourselves, and without a striving to be good ourselves. I am a Democrat because I believe that government is a tool by which we can build a better society, but I am not under the illusion that it will, by itself, do so. Government holds both great promise for the good of the people and at the same time, the greatest threat to the achieving of that good. It can be either friend or enemy to the people, and sometimes it seems both.

 My concern with our current situation is not that government has over-reached its authority by passing the recent health care bill, but rather that it has consistently, under both Democratic and Republican presidents and Congresses, over-reached its ability to deliver. Our leaders have made cheap promises into expensive programs without a thought for the future sustainability of those programs. The new health care law is no different. Like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid in their current forms, it is simply not sustainable. The primary difference between private insurance and government-run programs is sustainability. One of the reasons insurance companies are sustainable enterprises is they are regulated by government and required to maintain a certain ratio of assets to liabilities. It is the greatest of ironies that our local, state and federal governments (federal much more than the others) flout the very rules they force on private corporations! 

As I noted in a previous column, all indications are that we are headed towards a long period of economic trouble, increased taxation, higher unemployment, reduced services and benefits and a larger number of people in poverty. The data are clear, and they point to trouble, big trouble. We need responsible change and responsible leaders who will lead us in paths of sustainability and we need them now.

More Stuff about to hit the fan - Unfunded Liabilities

We’ve become aware, over the past few months, of some of the debt we’ve accumulated on the Federal level (there is some that hasn’t been widely talked about: the $6.3 trillion of liabilities belonging to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, putting our total current debt at around $19 trillion), but many of us are still unaware of the massive unfunded liabilities that are threatening our Federal, state and local governments; liabilities that almost make the national debt look like pocket change (unfunded liabilities are promises made -usually pensions - for which money has not been set aside).

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees report that the programs have $107 trillion in unfunded liabilities. The unfunded pension liabilities of the 50 states are estimated to be around $1 trillion (though some think three times that number is more accurate), and local governments are not immune to the problem.

The City of St. Louis has seen its pension costs shoot from $7 million in 2000 to $61 million this year, with the projection for next year to be $72 million (the city’s solution is to borrow money by issuing bonds and to increase the sales tax).

San Diego has unfunded liability estimated at $2.7 billion as of this past November. Atlanta has $1.5 billion in unfunded liability. Pittsburgh has a $600 million shortfall and Omaha $500 million. There are undoubtedly many more examples out there of government entities, large and small, which need to raise more revenue (much more) to meet their obligations. Can you say “tax increases for the middle class?”

On top of all this (gee, I hate to sound so negative, but I’m afraid it’s true), we have not yet seen the end of the mortgage foreclosure crisis (there are a lot of homeowners just barely hanging on) nor the middle of the commercial loan crisis; there’s an estimated $3.4 trillion in commercial loans outstanding and a lot of them are in trouble. Employment is not increasing, new jobs are not being created and we just added to the burden with a national health care bill. We are headed for a world of hurt, and it’s not too far away!

 

So what can we do about it? How are we going to deal with this situation? It’s easy to see that some benefits will have to be cut, general spending will have to go down, and new sources of revenue will have to be raised, all at a time when most of us are having a lot of trouble keeping our heads above water! The first thing we should do, though, is repeal the health care overhaul. Then we really need to get busy and figure out how we’re going to manage for the next 30 years or so. It’s time for new talent in D.C.

 

You can help change things by supporting my congressional campaign. Visit my campaign site here.

Liberty or Death?

On March 23, 1775, Virginia planter Patrick Henry rose in St. John’s Church in Richmond, where the Virginia House of Burgesses was meeting, to deliver his famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech. It was a time when feelings ran high on important issues of the day, the issues of taxation and the rights of local government against the King. Today, 235 years later, passions are running high on the issue of health care reform and the rights of State Governments against the Federal. Most of us think something needs to change, but few of us agree on what to do. Just this week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill already passed by the US Senate, to overhaul the American health care industry. Here are some of the highlights, according to the Associated Press. The new law:

Requires all health insurance plans to maintain dependent coverage for children until they turn 26; prohibits insurers from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing health problems. 

Bars insurance companies from putting lifetime dollar limits on coverage, and canceling policies except for fraud.

Prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with medical problems, or refusing to renew their policy. Health plans cannot limit coverage based on pre-existing conditions, or charge higher rates to those in poor health. Premiums can only vary by age (no more than 3-to-1), place of residence, family size and tobacco use.

These three requirements are, naturally enough, going to raise the cost of insurance considerably, though some of that may be offset by the larger pool of people forced to buy insurance or pay a substantial fine. The Medicare and Medicaid provisions, such as reducing already low reimbursement to doctors and hospitals, increasing the amount of coverage for seniors’ medications and greatly expanding Medicaid coverage, are going to add considerably to the cost of those programs and cause a reduction of services at precisely the point when they are already reaching insolvency. 

On top of all this there will be a reduction in the medical expenses we will be able to deduct from our taxes, an ever increasing “fee” on drug manufacturers (oh, that’ll make the drugs cost less!) and a huge tax on generous health insurance plans. All of this is estimated to cost us $938 billion between now and 2020. 

So is that estimate (from the Congressional Budget Office) reasonable? The Senate Joint Economic Committee (as quoted on The Foundry blog) indicates otherwise. The original Medicare estimates for the entire program from 1967 to 1990 were only about 10% of the actual costs! The track record of the US government on predicting expenses is not very good (one of the reasons we have such a huge national debt). It is entirely foreseeable that this new program, rather than reducing the deficit, as the CBO claims, will not only increase it, but add trillions to our national debt over the next ten years while piling another burden on the backs of the middle class. Instead of shoring up the programs we have and making them self-sustaining, Congress has given us yet another unsustainable program, on the very eve of a national melt-down; a time when the deficit is out of control, millions of Americans are out of work, and the nation is about to plunge into further recession; Bad timing, Congress, really bad timing!

It’s up to us, America, to change this situation. We can stop the flip-flop from the unrestrained spending of the Republicans to the crazed spending of the Democrats, only by reforming the Democratic Party. It’s your money! Let's spend it responsibly! It’s time to have leaders in Congress who know how to say NO to massive new entitlements that are built on the backs of the middle class, include penalties that threaten our most basic liberties, and promise medical gridlock on the scale of Britain and Canada! Instead, let's focus on jobs and industry and build a sustainable system that will benefit all Americans! Contact me and get involved in change for the better! 

Be Nice!

Tuesday, I headed to Jefferson City, accompanied by my campaign committee and the media (well, my son with a video camera), all four of us fitting comfortably inside my son’s 1986 Cadillac. It was a gorgeous day, sunny with clouds, and there was political discussion (imagine that!) all the way there and back. We crossed the wide Missouri into the capital (and missed our exit) shortly after 11am, and just a few minutes later we were walking into the lobby of the James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center (try to avoid getting a building named after yourself – it usually means you’re dead).

 The Missouri Secretary of State’s office seems to be very well run. I’ve previously dealt with them only through their web site (Fictitious Names, LLC filing, etc.), but on the first day of filing for office (which is when most people show up) they had friendly, helpful people everywhere, with all of the steps in the filing process neatly spread throughout the building.

We were first greeted in the lobby, by a man who directed us to the Department of Revenue’s desk, where I was to turn in my affidavit declaring that I was not aware of any tax delinquency on my part.

“You’ve filled it all out!” exclaimed one of the women from the DOR, as the other looked over her shoulder.

“Wasn’t I supposed to?” I asked, a bit puzzled (I had not only filled it out, I had it notarized, as the instructions indicated).

“Yes!” she responded with a big smile (apparently, though, many applicants hadn’t).

The next table I visited was occupied by the representative of the Missouri Democratic Party, who cheerfully accepted my check for $100 and wrote me a receipt. Then we walked up to the third floor, where the Secretary of State’s office is, to begin the actual registration.

I struck up conversations with some of the people I met in the line there, and when Secretary of State Robin Carnahan came by, had a photo taken with her.

“What office are you running for?” she asked.

“Nothing personal,” I said, “I’m running for the seat your brother is in.”

“Be nice.” She replied.

The rest of the time was spent at various desks, checking my ID and the forms I’d taken care of in the lobby downstairs, picking a random number to determine my position on the ballot, verifying my status as a registered voter and recording a message identifying myself for the visually impaired. Then it was to the main desk to get copies of everything and the process was complete.

The ballot application process is complete, but the actual work of the campaign is just begun. So, what are you doing this spring and summer? Do you want to help change our country for the better? We all should be concerned about the financial mess our nation is in and doing all we can to move it to fiscal solid ground. We need people to help with canvassing, we need help setting up neighborhood meetings and we need financial contributions. We need to act now if we really want to secure our future. Call or email me if you’re ready to get involved.

Drowning in Debt

In a new article entitled “Drowning in Debt: What the Nation’s Budget Woes Mean for You”, Devin Dwyer, writing for ABC news, takes a look at how our massive national debt threatens the financial health of the entire nation. Dwyer quotes former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as saying “Within 12 years… the largest item in the federal budget will be interest payments on the national debt. [They are] payments for which we get nothing.”

Some of the other predictions for America outlined in the article are:

            Substantially lower standard of living

            Inflation, which would erode our savings

            Higher interest rates

            Stagnant wages

            Fewer jobs

 The article hints at what is almost certain to come along with the above list, higher taxes, but what is not mentioned is potentially as devastating as what is. Dwyer limits his examination of economic woes to those on the Federal level and fails to look outside that sphere to what is happening on a state and local level.

 Tami Luhby, senior writer for CNN Money fills in some of the missing parts of the picture in her article “States short $1 trillion to fund retiree benefits”. David Nicklaus of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch adds another piece in his column, warning on Feb 12 of the increased pressure in the City of St. Louis from the soaring cost of retiree pensions (a tenfold increase in 10 years). Imagine a government (or company, for that matter) that has to lay off current workers to pay the retired ones!

 The picture doesn’t look good at any level, but one thing is a certainty; it is much less bad right now than it could be thirty years from now. Thirty years seems like a long time (I was married thirty years ago this coming August) when you are looking forward, but looking back gives an entirely different perspective. I’ll be 85 in thirty years (and maybe finally eligible to collect Social Security retirement under the new rules). I want to be known for standing up in America’s current time of difficulty and taking action. I want to be known as a friend of the ordinary person. My dream is a big one; that one average guy can reach out to other average people and put together a coalition that isn’t afraid to tell it as it is, and is willing to go out to stop the 12 trillion pound offensive tackle headed our way. How about you? Do you want to be part of the solution, or are you content to be part of the problem?

The Sheltered Life

Monday nights I spend with a group of people at the very bottom of American society, when I oversee a homeless shelter in the basement of an inner-city church on St. Louis’ Delmar Boulevard. It’s not a restful experience, though the nights are usually quiet, and it takes a couple of naps on Tuesdays to allow me to recover. A typical night goes like this:

I arrive at the church at 6 pm, open the shelter office and greet my coworkers. There are usually two; an overnight volunteer and an evening volunteer who leaves at 9:30 or ten. We have a checklist to go over to help prepare for the women we serve (we refer to them as “guests”), reminding us to check the tissue in the toilet stalls, disinfect the showers, start a wash load of shelter linens, prepare decaffeinated coffee, and heat dinner for up to 16 guests and the three of us staff. During this first half hour, I also check phone messages and review the previous week in the logbook we keep. Last week, for instance, I discovered that one of the women got into an argument with the Saturday night team leader and was removed from the shelter by police escort (Yes, it happens on my night as well. My most notorious incident was over ten years ago when I stopped a fight by putting my head between the chair-flinging culprit and her intended victim. As soon as I quit seeing stars, I restrained the guilty party and called the police).

At 6:30, I go to the main entrance on Delmar and let our guests in (some of whom have been impatiently ringing the doorbell for the previous ten minutes). They are eager to be off the street, and though some of them complain about the shelter, the staff and the food, they are genuinely glad to be out of the cold (and it is warm here; at over 70 degrees, it is always at least 15 degrees warmer than I keep my own house). Once everyone is present and accounted for, new guests have been introduced to the rules and services, and the first loads of guests’ laundry are chugging in the washers, we serve dinner. The food is also supplied by volunteers (though occasionally they don’t show up and we have to dip into the emergency budget and order pizza), and for the most part it is tasty, nutritious and filling (though occasionally we’ll have the same thing – lasagna or chili, for instance – too many nights in one week and the guests will gripe). Last night we had comfort food - pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, marinated vegetable salad, jello salad and yellow cake with chocolate frosting (yum!). After dinner, we packed up what was left of the pork with slices of bread and added oranges, apples and homemade cookies for bag lunches for the ladies to take today.

The rest of the evening is spent turning down the lights, settling disputes, counseling, consoling, fetching necessities from the storeroom and getting the laundry room emptied of its now clean garments. At 10:30, the lights go out and the difficult task of sleep is at hand.

It's an intimate connection to others, working in a homeless shelter. From my berth in the office, I hear every cough, toss, turn, and shuffling trip to the toilet, all night long. I lie on a narrow cot and think about the needs and personalities of the women under my charge. They come from all sorts of places but have wound up here at the bottom of society’s heap. They are on the streets, dependent on others for their daily bread. I like these women, though, even when they frustrate and aggravate me. I wonder what will become of them. I think of those from past years whom I no longer see here. Are they dead or moved to another city? A homeless shelter is frequently the last stop before the grave.

By the time my alarm goes off at 4:58 the following morning, I’ve already asked several of the women to quit smoking (not allowed between 10:30pm and 5am) please not rustle their belonging bags, and don’t turn the light on again, please. Breakfast cereals and bag lunches are put out and real coffee provided to get the day started. I count out two bus tickets for each of the guests (a major part of our budget) and get the checklist ready. Then it’s out into the cold again, as our guests return to the streets. Six o’clock is here and the shelter is closed until the next night’s crew arrives.

What does Sustainable mean to you?

I've never entered a marathon. And, I don't plan on ever doing so. It's not because I couldn't start as well as anyone else, it's because I wouldn't be able to keep going for very long, much less finish. Some of you know that last year I set out on a 365 day photo project - documenting St. Louis' unique Forest Park (aptly described by Post-Dispatch columnist David Nicklaus as "our town square") every single day of 2009 (you can see it here). It wasn't an easy task; there were many tense "what do I do now" moments, when inspiration seemed in short supply and the job especially daunting. But I did it (with some help from my children when I got a 6-day out-of-town job). I finished the job I set out to do partly because I chose a job that, while demanding, and for me, unprecedented, was within my reach.

Sustainable is one of the buzzwords of our age. We talk of sustainable agriculture (hey, farmer, farmer, put away that DDT, now...), we use the word in regard to development, growth rate, living, the economy, etc. Even the folks at Walmart have something to say about it, though I wouldn't have otherwise put them in the same sentence. Sustainability is everywhere talked about, but no one seems less clear on the concept than the Congress of the United States. When I was in high school, I wrote a essay advocating procrastination, which ended by stating that my life philosophy was "Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until next week" (I'm afraid I didn't take things as seriously then as I should have). This silly slogan of my youth, however, seems to sum up the approach our national leaders have to paying for things.

While it is true that debt has been a part of the Federal Government since the American Revolution (wars have always be expensive), entitlement spending has not. The collision between mandated spending (Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid) and available resources is closer than most people think (Social Security insolvency is currently projected to be a mere 5 years away). The Government Accountability Office's publication "A Citizen's Guide to the 2008 Financial Report of the U.S. Government" states that we are on "an unsustainable fiscal path".

"With respect to entitlement spending," the report goes on, "the nation must change course before the deficit and debt reach unprecedented heights. The Government must act to bring social insurance expenses and resources in balance."

Considering the current efforts in Congress to expand Medicaid and institute an overhaul of our health care "system", a balance seems not very likely. If Congress does pass any sort of healthcare legislation without providing a new and adequate revenue stream, it will simply be fuel for the fire.

Throughout the history of our nation, we have borrowed to expand infrastructure. This kind of borrowing increases national productivity and commerce, raising tax revenues. On a personal level it's like borrowing to improve your house or expand your business. It's a capital expense. What we are doing now is borrowing to fund increased social services (and an unnecessary foreign war and subsidies for the wealthy). This is like buying groceries on credit. It is not something we can do for long.

So, what happens next? There are a number of possibilities: 

 - bankruptcy, with an ensuing collapse of social services and possibility much more

 - reduction in services (with backlash from the voters, riots and social unrest)

 - increase in taxes (with backlash from the voters, riots and unrest)

 - Congress takes the wrong action and makes things worse

 - all of the above in some combination (we become like France)

We can't afford to do nothing. The right time to take action in preparing for the future is always now, and now is never a moment too soon. There is a lot that needs to be fixed, and not much time to fix it.

Get involved with my run for the Democratic nomination in Missouri's 3rd congressional district my number is 314-504-6692.

California Dreamin'

I've been watching the melt-down in California with great interest. In case you're not up on what's happening there, the gist of the situation is this: California wants a lot out of its government but doesn't want to pay for it.

Many people credit the Proposition 13 tax revolt with starting the trouble. In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13 into law, not only limiting property taxes to one percent of a property's value, but limiting valuation increases to two percent per year for as long as you own your home. The practical effect of this is a huge tax disparity; The new homeowner will pay many times more in taxes what his established-for-many-years neighbor does on a house of similar value. Proposition 13 was a real boon to home owners in a highly inflationary economy. People who saw their property taxes double or even triple over a few short years were now safe from such runaway costs, but the county and municipal governments that depended on the revenue were devastated, mostly by Proposition 13's mandate that all property taxes go to the state coffers.

If it had all stopped there, though, things might be all right in the Golden State, with other sources of revenue found and services continued. 

"The state was riding high during the late 1990s, projecting record revenues as far as the eye could see, and spending every penny of them-and then some. Then the "dot-com" bubble burst and the state was caught off-guard and unprepared." comments Adam Summers of the Reason Foundation in his January 26, 2009 post entitled "California's Spending Addiction". 

Summers goes on to note that from 1991 to the end of 2008, the state budget ballooned from $51.4 billion to $144.5 Billion with the state facing a projected deficit of $42 billion, a figure around 80% of the 1991 budget. He also notes that in March of 2004 the voters passed a $15 billion bond, and says, 

"The passage of the bond was a radical departure from typical government financing practices. General obligation bonds are usually reserved for large infrastructure projects that will benefit those that have to pay them off for years down the road. In this case the bonds were saddling future generations with debt to pay for today's day-to-day expenses. It's like using your credit card to buy groceries and pay your rent."

If all of this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because the Federal Government has been doing the same thing for a very long time. In fact, I think the situation in California (and several other states) is an indicator of things to come for the nation as a whole. The people demand more services, but less taxes, and both political parties rush to oblige. The day of reckoning is rapidly approaching; irresponsible government (largely the fault of Congress) and a lack of concern for the corporate good (that's the rest of us) are threatening the stability of the nation. If you think the current economic situation is bad, just wait five years; that's when Social Security is projected to become insolvent (spending will exceed revenue) and our national debt (at an estimated $17 trillion) will be greater than our gross domestic product. 

Meanwhile, we're busy fighting over ways to increase our spending. The bridge ahead is washed out, but we're in the dining car, too busy arguing over who gets served next to notice the danger.

Runaway Train.

Hope + Change = Action

Last year’s campaign slogans were Hope and Change, and I voted for both of those. But it simply isn’t enough to hope for change, change demands action.

There are two critical changes that need to be made now.

The first is to stop spending what we don’t have. It’s time to cut up the credit cards and pay down the debt. With our national debt scheduled to reach almost 13 trillion dollars this year, we have almost reached parity with our GNP. Without a plan to reduce that debt, it can only increase at our current levels of spending, and our spending is growing every year! What will happen when the payments on our debt reach the point that they take money away from vital government programs? What will happen as a result of putting off infrastructure repairs and maintenance to spend money on special projects? What will happen when social security becomes bankrupt and Medicare and Medicaid consume ever larger chunks of the public pot? If we continue to borrow, we will soon be at the point where we can’t afford the payments and at that point everything crashes. We will suffer the worst economic meltdown ever. If we default on our debts, it could even lead to war with foreign debt holders!

The second is to quit giving public money to the rich! In the last 18 months we have seen a massive handout to the wealthy of America as public funds have been thrown here and there to rescue those deemed “too large to fail”. CNN Money estimated this past December that the total amount handed out to the rich was almost 8 Trillion dollars! This is not counting the 1.2 Trillion dollars in “toxic assets” which was “purchased” by the Treasury department this year (that was not borrowed, it was stolen  - by printing more money and “expanding”, the money supply. Expanding in this case is the same thing as diluting – diluting means that the money we have is now worth less than it was before).

An interesting side note: there was quite a fuss this year when it came out that the federal government had made deals with AIG executives to give them fat bonuses to try and rescue the company after the big meltdown last year. The bonuses promised to the AIG workers (none of whom were responsible for the problem, but who agreed to step in and try to fix it) were nothing compared to the bonuses owed to executives of the banks rescued by the Treasury department last year (these are the executives who presided over the failures of these banks)! The Wall Street Journal estimated the executive compensation packages at the rescued banks to be around 40 Billion dollars. That’s considerably more than the pensions for all the other employees of those companies put together, and a lot more worthy of protest as these bonuses are going to the people responsible for the melt down (and if they had been allowed to fail, we wouldn't be liable for their executive compensation)!

Last year I sent a note to my congressman protesting the 700 billion dollar handout congress gave to the rich. He told me they were too big to fail. I say it’s time to change: we need a new congress, one that can say no to the rich and quit robbing the working classes of America of their future.

I'm listening; let me know what you think.