Latest News!Written By Comment Count Comment Last Three October 02, 2010
Chuck Floyd
We the people and tax payers must demand that Congress stop its wasteful ways and how it does business. Companies cannot run their business like Congress runs their part of the national government. Fundamentals must be changed on how Congress taxes, develops legislation, and passes bills. Also, we must demand the "perks" of being a member of Congress is very limited with term limits, no retirement, limited staff budgets, limited time in session, and accountability standards.
Congress must fundamentally rethink the way it spends taxpayer money, including getting rid of massive multi-agency spending bills and forcing lawmakers who want to add new government programs to first cut an existing one, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said Thursday. All earmarks must be challenged and defended or should not be used at all. Congress should be rated on their job of national and border security, international diplomacy, fiscal integrity, passing mandatory spending bills, programs that are cut or reduced, and on limiting the federal government's role in our lives. The inertia in Washington is currently to spend and spend and spend without any fiscal responsibility because Congress keeps voting to extend the nation's debt limit. Rules should be rewritten so each agency gets a thorough review every year, and the incentives are set up to cut, rather than expand, government. How many agencies spend money at the end of the fiscal year so they will not be cut the next year? Republicans and Democrats alike have forgotten how to legislate and do their job according to our Constitution. Too many members of Congress think that to be successful they must create new programs and spend more money. Congress needs to get back to basics and do only the job they are authorized. We do not want socialism, but a Republic where individuals are responsible for themselves, free enterprise without government control, and our God-given rights. -
0
May 09, 2010
Chuck Floyd
The average investor does not know of all of the regulations that Congress dictates to the commercial market. It is hard to track and we as investors have trusted both Congress and Wall Street with our money. Wall Streeters make millions of dollars while betting against the investors who they seek. With the failure of Freddie and Fannie and the wild rides on Wall Street, what must be done to help protect the average American investor?
The government needs to step in: to stop people from being cheated, to help capitalism regain some of the public trust it's lost, and to make markets transparent enough that people other than a handful of elite insiders can figure out what's going on. Who needs to step in to check the anti-market regulations promoted by Congress? The financial fix now being offered by Congress is suspect at best. Congress follows the money and does what it best for its members, not the public. What are the solutions? The point of the current legislation shouldn't be to do what's easily sellable or to punish Goldman, everyone's favorite whipping boy. It should be to make the U.S. financial system work better for all of us. There are six simple steps to help fix the financial system that I like. They would change Wall Street's incentives to make game-playing more expensive for the firms and the players; force both institutions and individuals to put serious amounts of their own money at risk, which would reduce future taxpayer losses; and give regulators, creditors and the general public access to information that Wall Street now hoards to enhance its profit margins. Also, Congress should not force banks or Wall Street to make risky loans or use risky financial instruments. 1 Increase capital requirements Any reform plan worth its salt should greatly increase capital requirements -- the amount of money that stockholders have at risk, relative to an institution's assets. This is what people mean when they talk about reducing leverage. Lower leverage would make institutions less likely to fail and any bailout of them less expensive. In addition, Congress should revisit the policy allowing the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs to guarantee mortgages made with down payments of as little as 3.5 percent and zero percent, respectively. These programs made sense in the long boom era after World War II, when house prices almost always rose and homeownership was a route to wealth. However, it may not make sense now. If those loans are continued, the government should sharply increase the insurance charged to borrowers, because residential mortgage lending is far riskier than it used to be. 2 Increase fear of too much risk If any financial institution fails or needs extraordinary help from the government, the United States should be able to claw back five years' worth of stock grants, options profits, and cash salaries and bonuses in excess of $1 million a year. That would apply to the 10 top executives, current and former, with a five-year look-back period. It would also apply to board members, present and past. (People brought in by regulators for rescues that ultimately fail would be exempt.) Anyone subject to the clawback would be permanently barred from executive positions or board seats at any institution that has federal deposit insurance or protection for brokerage customers from the Securities Investor Protection Corp. This provision would give executives and directors a huge incentive to make sure the institutions they supervise don't take on excessive risk. 3 Expose the derivatives trade Derivatives are contracts whose value derives from that of an underlying asset. They were once relatively simple, socially useful things -- instruments that allowed a farmer to lock in the price of wheat or an airline to know how much it would pay for jet fuel. Over the years, the derivatives market has morphed into a monstrous game consisting of speculation piled on speculation piled on speculation. At the end of last year, there were $30.4 trillion of credit-default swaps outstanding -- almost as much as the entire U.S. debt market -- according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). There were also $426.8 trillion of interest-rate derivatives outstanding. A lot of this is double (or triple or quadruple) counting, but any way you look at it, the numbers are scary. The market is essentially a vast black box in which no one ever knows who's got what obligations outstanding. So when problems began appearing in mid-2007, fear froze the financial system because many big institutions didn't know who was solvent and who wasn't. Regulators, lenders and stockholders couldn't tell, either. 4 Beef up the bankruptcy laws We have to worry about what happens when institutions holding custom derivatives fail. That forces us to fix the flaws in the bankruptcy code that made Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy much worse than it had to be. Because of changes that have crept into the code since the 1980s, Lehman's counterparties could terminate their deals and dump vast numbers of hard-to-unload positions onto the market without being subject to the "automatic stay" of bankruptcy. Chaos ensued. Together, steps 3 and 4 would prompt derivatives players to demand far more collateral, making the markets far smaller and less liquid. The folks at ISDA, the derivatives trade association, argue that forcing derivatives into clearinghouses and exchanges would introduce "excessive rigidity" into the system. They warn, also, that changing the bankruptcy law would have negative consequences. "Reform proposals encourage or require use of collateral, but collateral will only reduce risks if a party can use it when it matters most -- when its counterparty goes bankrupt," ISDA executive vice chairman Robert Pickel says. 5 Create a mortgage-securities database One of the major problems that led to the meltdown was that it was impossible for many investors to figure out what collateral supported the mortgage-backed securities and derivatives they owned. We can solve that problem by setting up a publicly available database for all mortgage-backed securities that would include up-to-date payment statuses for each mortgage in each security, as well as the estimated market value of each house. Investors, regulators and creditors could use this powerful tool to do their own analysis rather than having to rely on credit-rating agencies. Such a database would help close the information gap between the big players (who have access to customized information through high-priced, high-powered services) and the rest of us. 6 Truth in credit ratings A major reason for the worldwide mortgage disaster is that Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, the big three credit-rating agencies, gave "AAA" ratings to toxic waste securities that should have been rated "ZZZ." Investors at the mercy of the ratings stocked up on this trash, to their detriment. A widely recognized part of the problem is that the agencies are paid by the issuers of the securities, which want the highest ratings possible. But the bigger problem is that the world has become too complicated and fast-paced for the agencies' formulas to work as well as they once did. They've missed corporate debt problems, been late to downgrade European sovereign debt and so on. When house prices began falling rather than continuing to rise, as rating formulas assumed they would, the ratings were toast. -
0
March 16, 2010
Chuck Floyd
Well it's obvious what we as a nation are doing wrong. We need to stop electing those corrupt shiny teethed @#&$%$#@$ into political offices & get the Walmart personell managers to hire our Congresses for us! These guys need to run for office and put fiscal sanctity back into our system.
Walmart Versus the Moron s in Congress.... 1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day. 2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute! 3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year. 4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. 5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private Employer, and most speak English. 6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World. 7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years. 8. During this same period, 31 supermarket chains sought bankruptcy. 9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world. 10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 Years ago. 11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur At a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.) 12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart. You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to Fix the economy. This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!! To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons: The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is BROKE. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is BROKE. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is BROKE. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $ trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are BROKE. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is BROKE. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal FAILURE. You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars. AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM?? -
0
December 13, 2009
Chuck Floyd
How does Congress think that our economy works?
Our Congress does not know how a market economy works since they keep printigng money, getting all of us deeper into debt, and push through more and more regulations. Congress does not know how to create jobs if it thinks more government is the answer. Below is a simple example of how the current Congress creates jobs and pays off debt. It's a slow day in a small Vermont town and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit. A rich tourist drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night. As soon as he walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Farmer's Co-op. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit. The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner. The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today. -
0
December 11, 2009
Chuck Floyd
This Congress is fiscally irresponsible. Take the checkbook away from them. Where is the "most responsible" administration ever? Where are the adults who owe their loyality to the citizens and taxpayers of the United States? When you have career politicians in Congress who have never owned a business or met a payroll, this is what we get--an out of control, free spending Congress. Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections. Have members of Congress ever taken a CPA or Econ 101 class? “We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year. Congress has incurred this debt and now must CUT the budget and limit the federal government's spending. The leadership is betting that it’s better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year. But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago. As introduced Wednesday, the legislation sets no specific targets for deficit reduction, but its 18-member task force — 16 of whom would come from Congress — is promised immense leverage to force change if they can first come together behind a plan. Members of Congress have the responsibility to control spending and if they cannot do their job, then they must be replaced. “This is a defining moment,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the lead sponsors, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the panel’s ranking Republican, is already maneuvering to try to add the legislation as an amendment to any bill tapped to carry the debt increase. As explained by Hoyer and other Democrats, that will almost certainly be a pending $636.4 billion Pentagon appropriations bill that includes $128.3 in contingency funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House leadership has held back the bill for weeks, saving it for this moment, but now appropriations clerks have been instructed to have a final package ready to go by Monday. Leadership staff stressed that nothing was yet final in what has become a year-end negotiation between top Democrats in the House and Senate. But the Senate appears to have been the first to put the $1.8 trillion number on the table. And Hoyer’s comments are the clearest yet on the scale of the increase and the expectation that it will be part of a larger year-end legislative train pulled along by the must-pass military bill. “It is December. We don’t really have a choice,” Obey told POLITICO. “The bill’s already been run up; the credit card has already been used. When you get the bill in the mail you need to pay it.” Congress must show leadership and not approve this rise in the degt ceiling since Congress is free-wheeling with the nation's credit card. Though Treasury can buy itself time by moving assets around, it is already coming close to the current debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion. Last spring, the Democratic-backed budget proposed to raise this to about $13 trillion, but given the current pace of borrowing, no one now expects that will be sufficient to get through 2010. In fact, fiscal year 2009 ended Sept. 30 with a $1.4 trillion deficit, which demanded higher-than-expected Treasury borrowing. Most of that was due to the downturn in the economy and spending commitments in place before Barack Obama took office. And as much as Republicans point to the president’s economic recovery bill last February as the culprit, only a small share of that $787 billion package was spent by Sept. 30. How will we the taxpayer pay for healthcare, cap and trade, and all of the other spending programs being pushed through Congress? For example, transportation and housing resources would grow by 12 percent, including $2.5 billion for high-speed-rail investments on top of the $8 billion already added by the White House to the giant stimulus bill in February. A $163.5 budget for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would add an additional $8.6 billion to annual spending, and Veterans Health Administration spending would grow to $45.1 billion, a $4.1 billion increase. When will it stop? Our economic outlook is bleak with this type of free-spending Congress. All citizens should demand that members of Congress stop spending money that we do not have and putting these obligations on a national credit card that we cannot pay. Enough is enough. -
0
December 09, 2009
Chuck Floyd
Below are just some of the outrageous items in the Healthcare Bill introduced by Democrats in Congress. All US citizens should be demanding that this costly bill is a threat to their healthcare and insurance policies. Read and enjoy....
Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self-insure!! Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill: THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get. Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!! Page 42 of HC Bill: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice! Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise. Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals' finances & a 'National ID Health card' will be issued! Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for elective funds transfer. Page 65 Sec 164: Is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community organizations: (ACORN). Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the 'Exchange.' Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans -- The Govt will ration your health care! Page 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services. (Translation: illegal aliens.) Page 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups (i.e. ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan. Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. (AARP members - your health care WILL be rationed!) Page 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill: Medicaid eligible individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. (No choice.) Page 124 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt monopoly. Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what salary you can make. Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan. (NO choice!) Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part-time employees AND their families. (Employees shouldn't get excited about this as employers will be forced to reduce its work force, benefits, and wages/salaries to cover such a huge expense.) Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option will pay 8% tax on all payroll! (See the last comment in parenthesis.) Page 150 Lines 9-13: A business with payroll between $251K & $401K who doesn't provide public option will pay 2-6% tax on all payroll. Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income. Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay.) Page 195 HC Bill: Office rs & employees of the GOVT HC Admin.. will have access to ALL Americans' finances and personal records. Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." (Yes, it really says that!) Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors. (Low-income and the poor are affected.) Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors: It doesn't matter what specialty you have trained yourself in ---you will all be paid the same! (Just TRY to tell me that's not Socialism!) Page 253 Line 10-18: The Govt sets the value of a doctor's time, profession, judgment, etc. (Literally-the value of humans.) Page 265 Sec 1131: The Govt mandates and controls productivity for "private" HC industries. Page 268 Sec 1141: The federal Govt regulates the rental and purchase of power driven wheelchairs. Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing! Page 280 Sec 1151: The Govt will penalize hospitals for whatever the Govt deems preventable (i.e.re-admissions). Page 298 Lines 9-11: Doctors: If you treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission the Govt will penalize you. Page 317 L 13-20: PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. (The Govt tells doctors what and how much they can own!) Page 317-318 lines 21-25, 1-3: PROHIBITION on expansion. (The Govt is mandating that hospitals cannot expand.) Page 321 2-13: Hospitals have the opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input is required. (Can you say ACORN?) Page 335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339: The Govt mandates establishment of=2 outcome-based measures. (HC the way they want -- rationing.) Page 341 Lines 3-9: The Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Advance Plans, HMOs, etc. (Forcing people into the Govt plan) Page 354 Sec 1177: The Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of 'special needs people!' Page 379 Sec 1191: The Govt creates more bureaucracy via a "Tele-Health Advisory Committee." (Can you say HC by phone?) Page 425 Lines 4-12: The Govt mandates "Advance-Care Planning Consult." (Think senior citizens end-of-life patients.) Page 425 Lines 17-19: The Govt will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. (And it's mandatory!) Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: The Govt provides an "approved" list of end-of-life resources; & nbsp; guiding you in death. (Also called 'assisted suicide.') Page 427 Lines 15-24: The Govt mandates a program for orders on "end-of-life." (The Govt has a say in how your life ends!) Page 429 Lines 1-9: An "advanced-care planning consultant" will be used frequently as a patient's health deteriorates. Page 429 Lines 10-12: An "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. (AN ORDER TO DIE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?!?) Page 429 Lines 13-25: The GOVT will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order. (I wouldn't want to stand before God after getting paid for THAT job!) Page 430 Lines 11-15: The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end-of-life! (Again -- no choice!) Page 469: Community-Based Home Medical Services = Non-Profit Organizations. (Hello? ACORN Medical Services here!?!) Page 489 Sec 1308: The Govt will cover marriage and family therapy. (Which means Govt will insert itself into your marriage even.) Page 494-498: Govt will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, and rationing those services. -
0
November 08, 2009
Chuck Floyd
The U.S. Congress must be reformed to save our democracy and nation. The Congress is out of control and has too much power. We need to be afraid of long-time members of Congress who think they know more than the average American tax paying citizen.
The Congress: *Spends too much money *Extends the national debt w/o regard for our economy *Passes laws that will not aid economic recovery *Trys to supervise and controll everything such as healthcare *Members make a career out of public service *Members are more concerned about self and party, not the American citizen *Members promote and protect their selected groups such as ACORN and unions *Members break the law, cheat, and steal, yet try to protect themselves In order to return the U.S. Congress to true public servants and be accountable to the tax paying citizens of the United States, the below reform of Congress MUST OCCUR: 1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below. A. Two Six year Senate terms B. Six Two year House terms C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 2. No Tenure / No Pension: A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security: All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and back to work. 4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 6. Congress looses their current health care system. Congress should participate in the same health care system as the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. 8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/10. The American people did not make this contract with congressmen, congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. -
0
October 29, 2009
Chuck Floyd
Our US Congress is out of control when it comes to fiscal responsibility. They are spending billions and billions of dollars that are not in the US Treasury. The Congress is extending unemployment, bailouts to firms, and the debt ceiling. Our nation is being owned by foreign governments and individuals who buy our bonds and financial paper. The US dollar is sinking to all-time lows and will destroy our trading ability and our economy.
America is a great nation. It enjoys unprecedented wealth. Its people are among the freest in the world. And, with the world's most powerful armed forces, the United States is largely the master of its own destiny. Yet there is an insidious threat to America's continued greatness. It gets scarce attention because its effects are not immediate, but that threat is real. It is the threat of crushing government debt. Few things can march a great power down the road of decline faster than irresponsible economic policies - and huge debt is most often the drum leader of the pack. To learn which nations are most at the mercies of their enemies, just look at the World Bank's list of most "highly indebted poor countries." Today, the federal government is piling up debt as never before. Publicly-held debt now exceeds $7 trillion -about $22,000 per person. And it's expected to increase by $9 trillion over the next 10 years. Yes, we had extremely high debt after World War II, but unlike today's debt, it was temporary. Today's massive and growing entitlement costs mean that, absent reform, the picture will only get worse over the long-term. What difference does this make for U.S. security? The more we have to pay to service the rising debt and pay out for entitlements, the less there is for defense. Unless we reverse course, this means that - in our children's lifetime - the U.S. military might be unable to protect a sea lane vital to trade and military supply lines. We might be unable to suppress an enemy regime that launches a terrorist attack against us. And absent the great American economic engine, we might lack the resources to stay on the cutting edge of technology, leaving our soldiers vulnerable to being matched or even trumped on the battlefield by better-equipped foes. Other ruinous scenarios are possible as well. Suppose foreigners refuse to buy U.S. debt, leading to debt-induced inflation that eats away at productivity and the currency. In this situation, Americans could completely lose confidence in protecting our interests abroad. Beset by inflation and other towering economic problems, Americans could understandably turn toward isolationism, as they had by the 1930s. This would create power vacuums around the world and unleash enemies bent on challenging the great "sick man of America." The elected leaders of our country are not true to their oath of office and are causing our nation to become a true-debtor nation. We cannot keep spending billions of dollars at the federal level when we do not have the funds. Government programs have to be reduced. Where is the fiscal responsibility of the US Congress? -
0
March 20, 2009
Chuck Floyd
Congress is responsible for the economic crisis that we are in and are making the crisis worst. The American taxpayer is angry, frustrated, and feels abused. We must demand term limits to get rid of these power-hungry and incompetent elected officials. Policies enacted by Congress are destroying the free market system.
Congress must allow these "too big to fail" companies to go bankrupt. They were once small and used paper money to get big, so let they return to a small company status. The reality is that no matter what we do now, tens of trillions of dollars in wealth have been lost. The government cannot manage the government and private companies at the same time and should stop trying to do both. At the end of the day, the thing to get outraged about is not the $440 million in bonuses at AIG or the $10 million that Citi Group is spending to redesign its shrunken executive suite. These may seem like princely sums, but they are almost insignificant compared with the real outrage: the hundreds of billion dollars of taxpayer funds that have been put at risk to keep AIG, GM, and Citi from failing and taking the whole financial system down with them. Let's keep our attention on the elephant rather than the pimples on its behind. Stop using taxpayer money for bailouts. Congress's action of taxing bonuses is not legal and shows their arrogance. Congress allowed and approved these bonuses because they pushed through the bailout bill without reading the bill. Now that the members of Congress are "caught", they are trying to place the blame on others. There's nothing remotely fair about using taxpayer money to rescue a free-market financial system from the mistakes of the financiers and CEO's. The American taxpayer needs a bailout with fewer taxes, not more taxes to rescue failed businesses. It is time for a taxpayer revolt. -
0
February 15, 2009
Chuck Floyd
Congress Passed What?
The “Stimulus Package” or the so-called Recovery Act has been passed by the US Congress and no member of Congress has read the entire bill. With over 1,100 pages handed to law makers at 11 PM on Thursday night, Speaker Pelosi pushed an early vote because she was leaving for Rome to consult with the Pope. President Obama had promised at least 48 hours for the members of Congress to read and understand the package bailout plan before voting. This did not happen and NOT one Congressman or Congresswoman had time to read the 1,100 pages. Yet members of Congress voted for something they did not see, understand, or comprehend. They did not allow the voters to voice their opinions about something that will “change” our country into a socialist regime and require more taxes to be collected from us. Also, they just screwed-up the E-Verify program and did not require businesses to hire American citizens for these new jobs. Without using the E-Verify system, illegal immigrants will be used in this "job recovery" program. Our Congress is dangerous, out-of-control, and conducting business, not on behalf of the American people, but on behalf of their special interest groups. Congress has stripped language from the stimulus bill that would help ensure illegal aliens don’t take jobs from Americans and legal immigrants. It is mind-boggling to think that our representatives are so spineless that they can’t even stand up to the Hispanic Caucus at a time when jobs are disappearing at astonishing rates and many Americans are faced with financial ruin. E-Verify is fast, simple to use, and discriminates against nobody. It simply verifies that a person is legally entitled to work in this country. We know it sounds simple, but Congress found a way to screw it up. America citizens are on their own and must look out for themselves since elected members will not. Illegal immigrants are not only taking American jobs, but they are involved with the drug wars spilling across into the U.S. Members of Congress are not doing the job they were elected to do for the American taxpayer. -
0
January 14, 2009
Chuck Floyd
The Democrat Party is supposed to be for minority rights--right? What is Nancy Pelosi doing by limiting the rights of the Republican Party in Congress? When the Republicans were in power, they provided legislative rights for the Democrats, so why is Pelosi trying to be a "dictator"?
The Washington Post even took Speaker Pelosi to task yesterday for trampling on minority rights and shutting out Republicans from the legislative process. "BILLS SHOULD generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full and fair debate consisting of a full amendment process that grants the minority the right to offer its alternatives, including a substitute." This is what Nancy Pelosi pushed for and promised two years ago ,but now the House Speaker, that fairness is gone and Republicans are not allowed this legislative process. Pelosi's unprecedented power grab is simply unacceptable, and we cannot stand for it. We need a US Congress that will debate the issues and provide the American citizen the best solution, not the best solution for a certain party. All American should demand that minority rights are preserved. What comes around goes around. -
0
|
