Sometimes, the frustration level reaches the boiling point, and I’m left wondering if America really can survive. After decades of liberal programs, too many Americans have become dependent on the government… as if sitting around, doing nothing, and collecting a “pay check” from the government is a “job.” Come on! The only way for our country to make it through this debt and spending fiasco is for people to realize that the country simply spends too much.
The magical August 2 deadline is quickly approaching. This is the date that Washington politicians are pegging as the deadline to raise the limit that the federal government can borrow (the debt ceiling) in order to pay its bills. In simple terms, think of it like this: The federal government does not operate within a balanced budget. It buys things with your money and with credit cards. Now, all the credit cards are maxed-out, and the federal government wants permission to get another credit card. It’s a concept most people should understand, yet they don’t.
Yesterday, I received the following e-mail message from “Karen” in New York:
To Sentor Boehner,
If you don’t pass something my husband and I will not have anything to live on. I am disabled and my husband is retired. We live on a limited income. we get 16 dollars for food stamps. We are just making it month to month. Can’t make house repairs and no body will help. Why don’t you take a cut in pay and not get raises. We have not gotten one in two years and we will not get one next year. BUT EVERYTHING keeps going up. Please help us. There is no middle class anymore. You are either Rich like you or poor like me. What’s with that. I know I will not hear from you, but thought I would write anyway.
Where do I even start??? First of all, John Boehner is speaker of the House of Representatives. He is not a senator. Secondly, Karen echoes a sentiment that Barack Obama would love more people to be saying, “If you don’t pass something, we will not have anything to live on.” In other words, hurry up, pass a bill, so I can get my piece of the pie. Ugh. The system is BROKEN! Do the American people really want the federal government to simply get another credit card? If you had a son or daughter who got into trouble by charging too much on a credit card, would you get him or her another one?
So Karen wants the problem solved by Congress taking a cut in pay. As a side note, it’s a whole different debate on whether Congress gets paid too much and whether it should be full time, but that’s for another day. The speaker of the House makes $223,500 per year. The four party leaders (two in the House and two in the Senate) each make $193,400 per year. Other members of the House and Senate make $174,000 per year. Add it all up, and the total is $93,217,100. Our federal debt currently stands at $14,348,888,013,751. That 14.35 trillion dollars. If I subtracted all congressional pay, it would still be 14.35 trillion dollars. If we divided up the congressional pay and gave it to the 300 million people living in America, each person would get 31 cents.
What Karen also doesn’t understand is that there IS a middle class, and it’s the middle class that liberals seek to control. They know the truly poor people will always vote for them because the poor get things from the government. The next step for liberals is the middle class, and they go after them by creating envy and jealousy. “Look what the rich are doing.” “Look what the rich have.” And on and on. The middle class work in jobs provided by some “rich” person. That so-called “rich” person created a company, pays the taxes, does the hiring, provides money to keep the company going, and this person is the bad guy? Give me a break!
Too many people fall into the trap of thinking the “rich” don’t pay their “fair share” in taxes. As I’ve written before, can someone please tell me what their “fair share” really is. Until someone can do that, there is NO debate. People also seem to forget that the “rich” pay MOST of the taxes. Do you think we have funds for defense and Medicare and Social Security and our countless other programs based on tax collections from the poor?
Here’s a great chart from the National Taxpayers Union which illustrates who pays what:
It is absolutely impossible to solve our nation’s problems until we recognize and understand what those problems are. The reason we have such high taxes is because America spends too much. The reason we have massive debt is because America spends too much. We have the second highest corporate tax rate in the entire world. How’s that working out for job creation?
We have an uphill climb, but it seems like the path is greased, and we keep sliding back down. Unless people take the time to understand what is going on, we will keep on this course of spending, spending, spending.
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