Whats wrong with this picture

For years our elected representives have been taking money ( the surplus, 2.6 trillion since 1983, above the amount needed to pay current beneficiarys )that was paid in to the Social Security Administration, without any idea as to when or if it could ever be paid back.The social security surplus was invested in treasuries, enabling the government to borrow less money from other sources.The government borrows these funds to pay for other spending , but is obligated to pay intrest on these borrowings, and are to pay the funds back when needed by Social Security for benefit payments. The money is gone and the system is broke: These funds are guaranteed, but are only as strong as the federal Government and taxes will have to be raised to cover the costs of the borrowings when they are called for. Now they are back again ; this time to try to "overhaul" the system, to cut back on the benefits that are owed to millions of Americans , who have paid into this fund for a lifetime. Most of these Americans paid into this fund , with the understanding that when they reached retirement age they would at least be able to count on something each month as most of these Americans did not have any kind of retirement plans offered to them through their employer nor could they afford them if they were. Cuts need to be made : this is very true however cutting the benefits of Americans who have next to nothing is not really going to help much in the overall picture. It would be too easy to fix this by saying that we could divert some of the savings from the ending of the two wars and applying that money to cover the "borrowed" funds. This sadly can not happen, as the wars were and are funded with borrowed funds. More revenue needs to be coming in : Adding more revenue to the fund, if in fact there really was one , would be the quickest way to solve the problem of funding. But with the outsourcing of jobs there are fewer and fewer Americans working and paying taxes, at a time when we need more workers. Raising the retirement age; once again there is talk about raising the retirement age,but this would only be a quick fix and would not really offer much relief. Cutting the benefits to those who are receiving benefits but having never paid anything into the system, would be a good place to start. Taxes need to be raised to fund the Social Security system, but there is not much desire in doing so in an election year. The House Republicans just passed an extension on the payroll tax holiday,prolonging the cuts in funding to Social Security,in an effort to save face in an election year futher complicating the problem. We can't dig our way out of the hole that we now find ourselves in . If you keep digging you will find that the hole just keeps getting deeper.

Is anyone else embarrassed?

I'm sorry to say , but I feel that this Republican election cycle has got to be one of the most embarrassing moments in American history. Surely you would think that in all of America that there would be a few American's that don't come off as just plain stupid each time that they open their mouths. On the one hand we have as the front runner, a completely out of touch millionaire, who doesn't really have a clue as to how the rest of America lives,and in his past has been on every side of every issue and on the other hand we have this lying cheating short fuse has been,that has never taken any responsibility for anything unless someone else did it, that is just about ready to blow. There are a couple of other American's running who come across as somewhat intelligent, but they don't get the time of day by our we select who we want American media. I have been watching with great intrest all of the debates and all I have seen so far , is just more finger pointing and name calling. The President did this or my opponent did that, never saying that this is what I WILL do. I want to hear a plan I want to be told that as President I WILL WORK with all members of the American pollitical process. All of the members of the House and all of the members of the Senate I will go to them as the leader of the free world and say this is what I want to do , and your job is to make it happen, and if they give the same kinds of results that we have been getting, I will hold them up to the media saying that the reason we have failed to get anything done is because of this..These people need to get over their larger than life personas and get busy fixing America. Afterwards they can tell the story of how THEY did it anyway they want, but it does need to happen and it needs to happen NOW.

Family values, maybe not

For the past thirty years the GOP has sold it self as the party of family values. High morality,integrity and family values the shining example of the American way, used to be the benchmark of the Republican party. After the past few months of Presidential debates , I'm beginning to wonder if this is really what it means to be a Republican in America. It would appear that I have been wrong for all of these years, believing that the Republican party stands for anything more than get it while you can at the expense of all others. Lying cheating and whatever it takes , in both their personal lives and their business lives apparently are the norm just as long as they achieve the prize. Lies and personal attacks seem to be a time honored tradition within the Republican party, say it enough times and it becomes true. My pride in the American way swells with each day as we move forward in selecting a President. This is nothing near what our forefathers had in mind when they envisioned this country when they started it so many years ago. Please put someone who has some morals ,integrity, values and ethics up in the next state primary, give us someone worthy of governing the most powerful nation on earth. In God we trust .

Super PACs and other topics

Super PACs: Last week after losing the Iowa Caucus Newt Gingrich was crying like a baby over the use of Super PACs by some of his Republican rivals vowing to have the practice abolished. This week however after being given five million dollars by a billionaire to his own Super PAC he is all for the use of such institutions. Political Campaign contributions have always been a problem, and after several attempts at solving the issue of trying to remove big money from the game, they came up with this method which is by far the worst way of financing an election. Now there is a way to inject massive amounts of money , unchecked into any campaign, simply by routing it through a super PAC. Never going to change. This big money issue is never going to go away so you had better just get used to the idea of who ever has the most money is going to be the nominee and or the winner of any election. Term limits: Term limits have been talked about for years , but has it's time finally come? Now that the main stream Republican candidates are talking about it , perhaps we can move forward to a higher level. Iran: This week several of the candidates for the Republican nomination for President have come forward, saying that they would go to war with Iran , to stop their perceived nuclear program, stating that the current President is not doing enough to stop this threat. Russia , has expressed regret and concern calling for more six way talks after Iran has announced that they are able to refine their uranium futher, but not to the level required for making nuclear weapons but for the production of civilian power and radioactive isotopes, used for medical purposes.Is this really what we want at this time, another war fought with borrowed funding? Why don't we just take care of America for a change, and see how things go,and if futher information is gathered concerning the attempts by Iran in obtaining a nuclear device, then we can act on it in a responsible manner. Gold: Do you own gold? are you planning on obtaining more. Just a thought, let me ask you , if you had many untold pounds of gold in your possession as apparently many of the gold and silver exchanges now on TV do , and after making the claim that gold is now ready to triple again as it already has in the past , why would you be wanting to sell it now . Gold , you can't eat it.

Can you believe this

Five days to go before the Iowa Republican Caucus, and there have been more swings than in the schoolyard playground. Michele Bachman has gone from polling first after winning the straw poll six months ago to running last. I guess once you get to know someone you can make informed choices.Tim Pawlenty left back then, as he failed to gain any support. Then came herman Cain and his 9 9 9 plan , and with it all of his infidelities real or otherwise and he was also a memory.Rick Perry was a late entrant and he shot to the top, only before losing traction and sliding back down into the also ran group. Newt Gingrich, was riding the wave to the top ,polling with a lead in the double digits even announcing that he would indeed be the nominee. Only that was before the rest of the group ran ads reminding America of Newts past. Mr. Gingrich started crying foul , saying that it was negative advertising, and that he was going to stay positive and stay on message and that he was above that kind of campaign. Only after seeing his lead evaporate did his vow of superiority go out the window, saying on a nation wide news show that he would indeed remain with his positive message and not resort to the negative campaign practices employed by his competition, even while bashing each and every one of them on the show. All along, while all of the others have gone from just an also ran to having their turn at the top, Mitt Romney has clung to his twenty something percent polling numbers . He can't get any support outside of his small group. Jon Huntsman decided not to spend any time in Iowa and may be the best candidate in the bunch , but he doesn't have a chance of gaining any support after not playing by the rules by bypassing Iowa. And that leaves Rick Santorum he is making gains everyday in the polling numbers, as each of the other front runners crash and burn although he is still lagging behind the other front runners Romney and Paul. Ron Paul, has been gaining in strength each day in Iowa , but he still is being dismissed as a serious candidate by all the others in the campaign and by all of the network news. Gary Johnson never was given any chance of competing, and has left the group and went on to the libertarian party, to run as a spoiler. Getting good? depends on you idea of good. The clock is tickng

There are others

As Christmas comes again we all rush around the shopping centers and malls trying to find that gift that will be just right for that special somebody on our lists. We yell at the other people at the traffic lights and turn into Indy drivers to get that last parking spot , acting as if the other guy is the enemy, someone to be beaten at all cost. After it is all over and the gifts have been opened , there is little time left for thinking about the less fortunate among us. There are people that are starving to death around this world, who would like nothing more than to just have a few bites every couple of days. Even right here in America , there are people who through no fault of their own are existing on nothing more than scraps. They dig in the dumpsters trying to find something to bring home to their children, if they even have a home. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of greed and lust for money. This single minded quest has taken away from America all that once made us a great nation. Nobody cares about you , get it while you can , seems to be our new motto as Americans. I got mine, too bad about you but could you get out of my way as you are blocking my light. Remember when we cared about something bigger than ourselves, sometihng nobel honest and desirable. Now sadly nothing. America now is in our last days and the picture is not getting any better. We are facing an election year in 2012 and we will go to the polls to elect the person who will lie to us the best and promise us the most, knowing full well that nothing will ever change for the better. But does it have to be this way. There are good people out there but their message has not been heard and is not getting through. Our system is broken and needs a complete overhaul. From taxes,jobs,housing entitlements,markets, defence spending just about every thing needs to be looked at and redone, but we are more worried about if the rich corporations can bring back the money that they earned in other countries without paying any taxes on it. I got more for me, are you still hungry? Or perhaps we are worried about some 16th century culture that has sworn vengence on us , because we rob, rape and maim all in our path. Remember Christmas? remember the reason for the season? What would Jesus do.

Not in my lifetime

Not in my life time , did I ever think that I would live to see such a disfunctional government as the one the we are now paying for their services. Many American's go off to their jobs each day out of habit and necessity. Oh sure there are the rich, retired, disabled and the unemployed , but for the most part all American's are expected to provide some amount of service and earn a living. Workers: workers , when hired are hired to fill a specific need, based on the needs and requirments of the company that employs them. If they fail to do their work as required , then they are replaced. Sometimes they are given a chance to better their job performance and go on to become good employees. Other times they are just let go as they do not fit into the plans of the company, and no company can be expected to keep nonproductive employees. Does this sound as though this where we stand as a country and with our paid employees ie: our elected representives? Do we give them another chance to better their job performance or do we just replace them without further notice? 2012 elections think about your choices. There are 33 out of 100 senate seats up for grabs and all of the 435 house seats, along with the President. Remember only you can prevent congressional embarrassment.