Throughout 2009, while the country and its citizens were facing an awful economy, foreign wars, significant Congressional partisanship and sniping, no improvements in this major issues facing this country such as the soaring national debt, excessive unemployment, failing public institutions, wide spread drug cravings problems, rising health maintenance costs, and other significant issues, what were the politicians concerned about? Looking back on 09, there appears to have been three distinct categories of American political class behavior: The Good, The Poor, and The Ugly.
The great
By all accounts, 2009 was a rough year for some. The good news is we could actually identify some areas in which the political class did good quality things. The bad news will be I could only come up with three examples where the actions of the political category had taxpayers and fellow citizens in mind when they executed ones own actions:
1) The first example will depend on personal experience. I live in Pinellas regional in Florida and within the last four years my property taxes have gone down on a year over year basis. They have gone down so much that I now pay about 40% in less in property duty today than I paid four issue with a significant area of that decrease occurring just last year. There are probably various factors, both political and additionally non-political, that have gone inside this decrease but all sorts of things that they have been down significantly. And here is the good news: I still have authorities protection, I still have fire protection, the schools are open, the parks continues to open, most of the libraries continue to be open and the highway and traffic lights are still in good shape. This is proof, that on a very local level, excess waste can be taken out of government without substantial reduction in essential protection and providers. The primary word in the previous sentence is vital.
2) The second example emanates from the U. S. Senate also it was a suggestion and formal proposal on the Senate from Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. His reasoning: since the us government paid about $60 thousand of U. S. taxpayer money to have a 60% share of Basic Motors and theoretically save it from bankruptcy, should not each American taxpayer get stock vouchers and partial ownership of GM as opposed to the Washington bureaucrats? After just about all, since government is capable to function only because it will require money from taxpayers, if government acquires ownership inside of a private company, doesn't which means that that the taxpayers own the firm since it was their own money? Senator Alexander was the single politician this coming year that showed he understood the relationship between paying taxes together with government spending. Giving individual citizens those shares of GM would ensure more interest in how GM performed moving forward since each citizen may have had a stake in its survival, probably giving GM a better shot at survival than there are with government ownership. Sorry to say, the Senator's suggestion hasn't been approved by the Senate.
3) The final example emanates from a small town in south Florida, Miami Smaller gardens. In the past 365 days, Miami Gardens city government took these actions:
- The city payroll grew. Most everywhere else in the united states unemployment increased.
- City employees still got cost of living boosts and merit raises. Most everywhere else in the united kingdom
salaries and rely on were frozen or minimized.
- The city increased its financial reserves by about $300, 000. Most everywhere else in the united states, local
and state governments dipped to their reserves to cover working with costs.
- The town upgraded 17 parks in addition to 4 schools. Most some other government entities were minimizing or eliminating maintenance assignments.
How was Miami Gdns able to do these positive things in light on the very, very deep recession and the fact that they are not the city of wealthy home owners? According to interviews by using city officials:
- City employees reveal both personnel resources and various resources.
- The city hires only those they actually want to do the work needed to be done.
- City officials claim they discover and backbone to claim "No" to non-essential initiatives and programs, claiming they can cannot be everything for you to everybody.
- Therefore, much like the first example above, the Miami Gardens politicians indicate that running a slim, efficient government operation is possible should you be respectful of taxpayers' pounds. All it takes is a little planning and enable you to just say No.
The Bad
In life you need to take the good using the bad so now lets review a few of the less than glorious antics that this political class served us with within the second half of 2011:
- Ginny Brown-Waite, a Congresswoman from Florida, was actively investing in bank stocks while doing so she was sitting to the House banking committee to view which banks got what levels of bailout money and support with the American taxpayer through the government. This is a blatant struggle of interest. Ordinary Americans would probably have arrived at jail for insider exchanging if they did the same, apparently conflict of interest and insider trading activities never apply to Congressional subscribers.
- Senator Hillary Clinton apparently also will never understand conflict of desire theory. She helped pass some bill that allowed the mall developer in Manhattan state to get preferential taxation treatment, shortly after the developer made a major donation to Bill Clinton's base.
- Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye's staff members helped a bank in Hawaii get bailout money through the FDIC after the the FDIC determined the bank was not worth economizing. Turns out that this Senator had invested heavily in the bank and stood to misplace a load of money unless your bank was saved by that American taxpayer.
- Senator Chad Dodd of Connecticut gotten substantial campaign donations because of Fannie Me and Freddie Apple computer. Two things wrong in this case. First, Dodd was chairman for the Senate banking committee responsible for overseeing the activities involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a clear cut case of conflict of interest. Second, how do two Federal organizations which exist now solely because with taxpayer support and bailout money arrive at use taxpayer money to support specific candidates for office? Shouldn not government organizations remain non-partisan not a piggy bank to your politicians who are designed to oversee them?
- Ex-Congressman Bill Jefferson of Louisiana has been convicted of taking bribes and additionally was sentenced to 13 years in prison. You may well recall that Mr. Jefferson was caught with frozen bribe money in his home freezer. This continues the hall of shame tradition for the political class who not long ago included Congressman Randy Cunningham who has been sentenced to eight years in prison when deciding to take $2. 4 million inside bribes, Congressman Bill Ney who had previously been sentenced to two and a half years in prison when planning on taking bribes, Congressman James Traficant who was simply sentenced to seven years in prison to bring bribes, and the most of ex-Governors of Illinois that happen to be either serving prison occasion, have served prison occasion, or may soon skin prison time
Bristol RI Auto Repair.
- 60% in the Congressional members sitting in the House Armed Services Committee received campaign contributions from the very companies that they previously earmarked pork clip or barrel budget money for.
Congressman Charles Rangel of New york is being investigated for many ethics violations including, though not limited to, non-declaration of rental income, certain means, and other income.
- In the neighborhood of "who really cares with this bill", Congresswoman Anna Eshoo regarding California and her staff will work on legislation to Federally get a grip on the sound volume with television commercials. Never head that TV watchers will mute the sound, improve the channel, leave the surrounding to get something to enjoy, fast forward on your DVR machines, or just ignore the TV for 60 moments. Why work on Iraq, Afghanistan, growing deficits, unemployment, failing open public schools, etc. when the tv commercial sound volume issue is so pressing?
- In a similar vein as Ms. Eshoo's side of the bargain to America, Congressman Jim Moran together with his staff are investigating whether erection problems television commercials should be banned. I did not know it was so important either. Like with Ms. Eshoo, let's ignore real problems facing America and work with E. D. commercials.
- And it never ends. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter together with his staff is implementing legislation to provide as many as $300 a month with income tax deductions so the unemployed don't need to put their pets in place for adoption. Maybe if his people and he were working on get America working again, there would be no require for this ridiculous program that would never have the capacity to be tracked and would be rife with fraud.
Worse than individual Congress people and their staffs working on trivial bills, how about an entire House subcommittee handled legislation aimed at forcing the NCAA to see a playoff format to look for the best Division One faculty football team? Where would this issue rank with many Americans today? Probably not so high.
- The fence down the border between America and Mexico was the work of the entire Congress. A 2009 report documented that construction of the fence is seven years associated with schedule, it will price $6. 4 billion to take care of the fence over the following twenty years ($870, 000 a day!), and there have been at least 3, 000 breaches of this fence where illegal immigrants were able to enter the country despite this billion dollar fence.
- The brand new Washington D. C. visitors' middle was completed but solely after it overran it's manufacturing budget by about 50%.
: Congressman Henry Waxman ended up being quoted as saying: "I certainly don't claim to learn everything that is in such a bill" in referring on the massive cap and trade legislation that is likely to come before Congress truly. The troubling aspect of this statement is that Waxman may be the official co-author and writer within the bill!
- Recently, who could forget this blatant bribes the recently passed medical reform bill required where a handful of Democratic Senators were able to get breaks for their individual states towards the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in exchange with regard to final vote to get this bill.
If these actions weren't serious and far getting, they would be comical. Conflicts of interest, unimportant projects, wastes of money, sad but true just last year.
The Ugly
It has become said that beauty was in the eye of your beholder. However, it is difficult to find much beauty in any of the following Federally funded projects simply waste Federal tax pounds on local projects that will contribute nothing to helping you out with the major, national issues facing the state today. The only beauty is during the eye of incumbent people in politics who waste these taxpayer dollars to help their re-election efforts:
- Exhibits in the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural Online site Foundation - $150, 000
- Restoration of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Popular music Hall - $1, 000, 000
- Restoration of the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia - $350, 000
- Construction in the Monroe County (Kentucky) Farmers' Economy - $250, 000
- Restoration of the Murphy Theater in Ohio - $250, 000
- Restoration in the Slater Mill in Rhode Tropical island - $194, 000
- Restoration in the Pregone Theater in the Bronx - $150, 000
- Construction within the Santa Ana River Path in California - $100, 000
- Funding for the Myrtle Beach International Trade and Conference Center : $100, 000
- Funding to your Washington (state) Chrome - $200, 000
- Funding with the Montana World Trade Heart - $134, 000
- Funding with the Arkansas Commercial Driver Coaching Institute - $200, 000
- Funding to examine and educate citizens for the role and importance in the U. S. Senate, situated in- Massachusetts - $18, nine hundred, 000
- Funding for the Brown Tree Snake Process, funding that was embedded inside the 2010 Defense Department spending plan - $500, 000
- Renovation within the Ritz Theater in Newburgh, The big apple - $400, 000
- Renovation for the Laredo Little Theater inside Lardeo, Texas - $200, 000
-- Widening of Bristol Lane in Santa Ana, Florida - $350, 000
- Construction to a bike path in Slot Sanilax, Michigan - $250, 000
- Funding for any Museum Of Aviation : $350, 000
- Funding for the World Food Prize with Iowa - $750, 000
- Questionable Medicare claims which include such, as an illustration, paying for blood blood sugar strips for sexual impotence - $47, 000, 000, 000
- Government waste due to improper payments across all Federal departments - $98, 000, 000, 000
- Conversion of 21 cabooses right caboose motel in Pa - $500, 000
- Funding for a remote Pennsylvania airport that will serves about twenty passengers every day - $200, 000, 000
- Funding for a state of the art radar system for which remote Pennsylvania airport containing never been used -- $8, 000, 000
- Funding in a remote Montana border checkpoint within the Canadian border that handles several travelers a day usually and less than $200 of freight every day on average - $15, 000, 000
- Funding with the Polynesian Voyaging Society within Hawaii - $238, 000
- Funding with the Forage Animal Production Explore Lab in Kentucky- $1, 1000, 000
- Funds for Swine Odor in addition to Manure Management Research inside Iowa - $1, 790, 000
: Funding for oyster therapy in Alabama - $800, 000
- Support of health and economic development activities for ones Arctic region - $19, six-hundred, 000
- A loan to a California company to develop and build an expensive hybrid fancy car.... in Finland - $529, 000, 000
These are just a couple dozen programs that waste hard earned taxpayer $. The 2010 budget bills have over 11, 000 many other such programs, even though President Obama campaigned to keep the numerous pork projects like such well under 2, 000. The reasons why we have state and local governments is always to handle state and area needs. It should not become the role of the government to fund local cycle paths, widen local driveways, renovate theaters, etc. This diverts time, money, and resources through the truly national problems much like the two wars we are currently involved in, soaring U . s . deficits, high unemployment values, Social Security and Medicare at risk of insolvency, failing public schools, high drug addiction rates and the associated crime problems, the lacking of an national strategic energy prepare, etc.
Then why does indeed the political class spend/waste period and money on these kind of clearly local issues and additionally needs? It helps guarantee them re-election by working to prove to their own voters that they are adept at stealing funds from other U. Utes. taxpayers and funneling to their home districts and declares. Remember, the government covers nothing, it funds programs with taxpayer money extracted from all American taxpayers. Hence, the bike trail in Michigan are being financed in part just by taxpayers in Arizona that will never ride that trek. The Polynesian Voyaging Society is that it is funded in part by taxpayers in Vermont who will never get any benefits from the Society.
A long time ago, the Statue With Liberty, an enduing symbol with this entire country and a freedom, was in terribly need of repair as well as renovation. The country rose around privately donate enough funds to regenerate this national symbol. If the Statue Of Liberty did not merit Federal money a few decades ago, why do farmers' markets and dirt bike paths merit such U . s . support today?
This pilfering of countrywide tax dollars possibly hides a far more dangerous reality. It could be that this generation of politicians, and the ones which have come immediately before them, do not know how to solve the real country wide problems facing America at present. In the 1960s, Nixon declared war on drugs but we still possess a major drug problem in this country. In the 1970s, Carter was President when you lived through the electrical power crises but we still no wouldn't have a national strategic energy program into position. In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration identified the danger of our failing open school systems but today a number of our public schools are always failing. In the 1990s, despite numerous wake-up calls (to begin with World Trade Center attacks, U. S. embassy terrorist bombings with Africa, USS Cole attack, etc.) we still shouldn't have the terrorist threat at bay, as witnessed by a almost catastrophic airline security breakdown relating to the Christmas day KLM airline flight into Detroit.
Thus, maybe our current politicians work with useless and wasteful native spending programs and worry about the sound volume on television commercials because they're incapable of doing everthing else. If they were, than a lot of national problems would are addressed and solved already. That is why the following steps need to be taken to start lowering "The Bad" and "The Ugly" and additionally expanding the "The Good" in the political class:
Step 1 - beginning reducing Federal spending by 10% annually, for five years, for you to begin weeding out your wasteful, but politically simple, local wastes of funds.
Step 2 -- allow only individual citizens to promote political election campaigns since most wasteful programs are really bribes, directing taxpayer dollars to companies, unions, and lobbyists to obtain reciprocal campaign donations designed for incumbents' re-election campaigns.
Step 3 - hold Congressional committee and subcommittee members to blame for their performance, removing him or her from committee posts any time their efforts are poor and wasteful.
Step 4 : establish term limits for all Senators and Congressmen since allowing them to serve forever is no longer working. If the President, the main elected official in everything, has term limits, less important Senate in addition to House of Representative seats ought to be limited in phrase length.
Step 5 : no Federal money could possibly be spent on any process or project unless it materially affects an important number of residents in at least five states, i. e. spend Federal tax pounds on national needs, let state and native governments and private citizens handle the local needs.
While "The Fantastic, The Bad and The Ugly" generated for a good Clint Eastwood video, it does not result in effective and efficient governance. Lets hope that 2010 is most effective and that somehow many of the steps listed above take hold this coming year, resulting in a 2010 number of wasteful spending programs as well as negative political antics that is definitely far smaller than last year, less bad and ugly and much more good.
Note: only quality, well known news sources were useful for the information most notable article. These sources covered, but were not limited to, the New York Circumstances, the St. Petersburg Moments, CNN, the Associated Click, The Week Magazine, and Reason Magazine and won't include personal opinions or information from highly partisan solutions. For detailed information relating to the sources please refer for you to where every one of those facts and figures are previously identified and spoken of.
2009 Year End Reviews - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly From the American Political Class
