Cutting Government Waste

Do you ever wonder how the lawmakers are going to cut waste in government spending when they can't even agree on the little things like Military funding, social security payments, etc.? I often wonder what it must be like for our elected officials in Washington. How do they find the time to author, discuss, write and present those laws that affect all of us in as little as one year?


Lawmakers take not only two weeks a year vacation plus all the "legal" holidays, they take summer breaks, Christmas breaks and sometimes up to a week off for every holiday that falls during the week. That amounts to almost 26 weeks a year and leaves only 26 weeks to pass all those well conceived bills. That is if they can agree by majority.


Now members of congress make, in general terms, $174,000 annually and if you include the $100,000 in taxpayer-funded fringe benefits, it equals around $274,000 a year! I don't know about the average person, but I would have loved to have earned $174,000 per year in my time of employment. Given that amount, it would have equaled approximately $537 per day, (subtracting 14 days vacation, 24 weekend days and seven paid holidays), of actual work days. For members of Congress, they would put in approximately 130 days per year and taking only salary into consideration, they make roughly $1338 per day plus benefits.


So, how can they possibly balance the budget AND cut spending when they are already waist deep in waste without ever creating a single piece of legislation? 


Someone please enlighten me.

Here We Are Again...

Here we are again, a possible government shutdown. It seems the political process has not learned a damn thing with the people's response to raising the debt ceiling debacle of just over a month ago.


Political sides have drawn another line in the sand waiting for one or the other to cross before remedying a situation that not only affects governmental employees, programs and emergency funding, but it also affects every person, young and old, in this country. Boehner thinks his deal is best, Reid thinks his is. Another "dirty" stalemate looms in the offing, one the American people have seen before.


What's really sad is that this proposed funding is for only first seven weeks of the new fiscal year. Another band aid so that they can argue again in just a few weeks from now. Have the politicians not heard the voice of the "People"? Their approval rating is at the lowest ever and they don't seem to care. This will make the third time in six months a partial government shut down is possible if a Republican led House and a Democratic Senate cannot come to an agreement.


It seems to me if you can't organize your bills and pay your creditors as agreed, you face collections fees and nasty phone calls. Your credit rating goes down the dumper and you no longer can get the house or car of your dreams, you pay at a higher credit percentage and are expected to come up with more money down or forced to file bankruptcy. Either way, it costs you more to live and are supposed to settle for a lessor lifestyle. Maybe it's time for the creditors of our great nation to inform those that make these decisions on our behalf to fix the problem immediately or they will be the ones punished financially.


"It is embarrassing," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., admitted Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." Warner asked: "Can we, once again, inflict on the country and the American people the spectacle of a near government shutdown?"


When is enough, enough? It's hard enough to go to our jobs daily hoping the doors are not shut, our paychecks don't bounce and that we will continue to have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our stomachs. What makes it more difficult is that the pompous politicians sit on Capital Hill squabbling over keeping the government running and not be concerned that they won't get paid. 


It's time to stop the "pork barrel" spending, the idea that my state is more important than yours and focus on getting this country back on it's feet again. We were once considered the most "powerful" country in the world with streets paved of "gold" but now we are a laughing stock, the butt of jokes around the world.


How about we get rid of all the career politicians, and I do mean all, and elect CPA's, small business owners who are successful in positive cash flow, normal everyday people who can't raise millions for the election coffers, and start running this country as a business and not as a country owing to the 'fat cats" in Washington or the special interest groups out to buy an election. How about the people of this great nation stop their political rhetoric and take back what is rightfully ours.


In 2012 the people can make a difference by not re-electing any political candidate and taking a really close look at those average Americans willing to work one term to right the path of our country.

Time For A Change?

Arguably President Obama is at his lowest approval rating of his Presidential tenure, but is it because he has failed the American people or is it the result of the recent turmoil in Washington, DC regarding the budget/debt crisis? It’s true America was let down, in a catastrophic way, with the ineptness of both sides of the political process to reach a consensus that rectified a problem that has plagued this country for years until the very last minute. The members of Congress were not happy with the ensuing deal made to raise the debt limit but on the other hand they paraded around like war heroes and sport celebrities that had brought victory to the land of the free.


Republicans cast blame for the battle on the Democrats and vice versa. But the real reason for the delay is they can’t get fired for failing to perform the duties of which they were “hired”. Some even wanted to take their summer break and vacation instead of working for the greater good of a nation on the brink of financial disaster. Maybe it’s time to enact a performance clause into the election process much like what the ordinary American is confronted with in his or her job. Even the unemployed are faced with a performance clause weekly.


The constituents should be able to rate the performance of their elected official every six months and if the politician receives a majority negative response a special election would be held within ten days and a new elected official would take their place in Washington. If the majority responded in a positive way, the elected official would remain in office. The only exceptions to the rule would be to the President and Vice President. They would serve out their term to establish a sense of continuity across the globe.


I’m sure there are other ways to make elected officials accountable and to create a sense of urgency for them to deal with the concerns of the country. Maybe it’s time for the ordinary citizen to stand up and be heard, to make sure the elected official is totally aware of who they are accountable to. It’s not the special interest groups, or the big dollar contributor, but the everyday, common people of the United States. Unfortunately, like it or not, nothing will change in the world of politics until the people stand up and be counted in a voice that is not only loud, but possibly even deafening.

Money Making Machine? I think NOT for you!

Recently I answered an email regarding a brand new money making effort supposedly targeted to wireless phones. I was curious. I was intrigued. I checked it out only to find all they wanted you to do was, wait for it, buy their products, their shortcuts, their ideas. It was no different than any of the other schemes I have looked at in the past. It was the 1970's all over again. Amway, Olde World Marketing, etc.. Big dreams, even bigger disappointment. 


MobileMoneyMachine claims to be the new holy grail of a money making opportunity by a individual or group that claims to be giving it away, all you have to do is pay $49 to help offset the cost of their massive server. But once sucked in, comes the emails ad infinitum. In eight days I received no less than 15 emails from "Frank" welcoming me to the "family", inviting me to long boring webinars that spent more time telling me how much money they made rather than how to make it. 

I listen to one webinar that was 90 minutes long, narrated by some bloke with a British accent, with an endless list of people attending listed on the side bar, without telling me how to do it for "free". Next thing I know is I could get a download of a program, (which I wonder if it was loaded with malware or some tracking program) for $997 instead of $1995 or some phenomenal savings like that. 

I received emails with links that now lead you to: http://www.getresponse.com that solicits more money from you from $9.95 to $65.50 per month. PER MONTH! They will provide you with anywhere from 250-10,000 subscribers. Subscribing to what I don't know, but if you will pay them, they'll have the subscribers. 

The website dedicated to this awesome financial freedom opportunity is the following:    http://mobilemoneymachines.com/sp/indexmmm2.html. 

If you feel the urge to investigate, google Mobile Money Machine and you will get countless testimonials on how hugely successful this "new" idea is.

I suppose that many will continue to go to it with the hope they can somehow beat the odds and make millions. I say to them, good luck.