Government - page 8

Lets not create a stampede at the doors of Home Depot or where ever this winner is sold. The U.S. Government offered a prize of $10 million dollars to the manufacturer that could create a “green” but affordable light bulb. Speaking only for myself here even if that winning light bulb was green it sure does not sound affordable. Of course the government that offered the 10 million dollar prize took that from taxpayers who they expect to buy the $50.00 bulb. It had one string attached in that it had to be manufactured in America. Home Depot is the largest seller of light bulbs and they didn’t want to call the bulb too expensive but said their customers might jump to that conclusion. By next year we are not supposed to be using incandescent bulbs so unless you hoard up a bunch of 60’s and 75’s you are going to be paying more for your light bulb than you did for the beautiful lamp you bought to use it in. Home Depot offers LED bulbs under the EcoSmart label which is assembled in Mexico for $23.97. Another Phillips LED bulb on sale costs $24.97. It was made in China. Or you can buy the ten million dollar prize winner for $50.00. Am I the only one who thinks that 10 million was totally wasted? Comments please.

A group of lawmakers are going to tackle the states popular initiative system. They never have liked the idea that we the people could gather signatures and actually make something happen. They have tried every road block they can come up with to make it hard for us to make our wishes known. They can’t stand Tim Eyman because he has helped make the initiative system so public. They find every thing wrong with an initative we the people get enough signatures for that they want to start a proposed constitutional amendment to require the voters to state where the money will come from to fund what the initiative requires the state to do.

I can’t believe that for once I have to agree with the lawmakers to that extent, but not have them tinker with the system with a constitutional amendment. The voters approved training for long-term-care workers and it will cost money. Everyone including the lawmakers are going to get old or ill eventually and might need someone to care for them and since it’s a life or death situation lots of times, some training certainly is needed and should be paid for by the state. If it were some unnecessary thing we got enough signatures for like a sports stadium, a tunnel, the schools glass palace, a monstrosity of a glass library or more fancy buildings then we should state how we intended to fund them, but its not we the people doing those things it’s our lawmakers. We the taxpayers did not want those things but the lawmakers can dream up expensive crap, and they have a way to fund it. Just add a fee, a tax or whatever they feel like. So far no initiative has done anything like that so leave our process alone., but if we ever did get enough signatures for something stupid like the lawmakers have done we should say how it will be funded.

Just as the other Washington and this Washington are saying they are dead broke. cutting, slashing, cutting school years, laying off Fireman and Police etc today’s Times NWSATURDAY Dec. 17,2011 has this article stating $60M State windfall to boost preschool education. They say it’s a Federal Grant. Without getting into the preschool education needs I am pointing out if the Federal Government is broke how at this point in time can they hand out a Federal Grant of sixty million. There is no Santa Clause working there. They had to take it away from workers in some way and skim off a lot to process the amount they took from us to come up with this huge grant. Makes no sense at all. They have so many pots of money to dip into but still say they are broke. Where is the pot of gold to pay for training long care heath workers? They could find it if they wanted to but will try to screw up signature gathering to challenge the lawmakers.

As predicted, the not so “Super Committee” has failed.  It’s no big surprise to me really.  It was doomed before it even started.  The 12 political members of this committee are mostly to blame for this whole money problem anyway.  They all have been part of the system and continue to play the game.  They will continue as normal after the Holidays with their careers with no real decisions.  By not making any real or hard stands (decisions) they will keep their heads off the chopping block, lay low, and continue on getting elected and playing he game every year.  Collecting their big fat checks every month, richy rich health care, and pension programs that the average Joe will never end come close to achieving.  It’s a shame really because they all should be fire.  Every single one of them.  Republicans want some cuts and the Democrats want to tax the rich.

The cuts Republican want are not enough and taxing the rich is not a viable solution.  Right now 3% has been cut.  That is extremely pathetic honestly.  The other side, taxing the rich is just a nice way of asking for more money from the public.  Burning more money in a failed system.  Doesn’t fix the problem and with the currently spend that will be used up really quick.  It doesn’t solve the problem at all.

So what is the solution.  Personally I like Warren Buffets suggestion – here is what he said, “I could end the deficit in five minutes.  You just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than three percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”

Now that sounds like a good plan to me.  Unfortunately, we will never see any laws like this because the people who would pass the law are the same people who would lose their jobs.  That is not going to happen.

I like numbers so lets look at these simple U.S financial figures and recent spending cuts.  This is the actual 2011 federal budget and their “BIG” spending cuts.

U.S Income:  2,170,000,000,000
Federal Budget: 3,820,000,000,000
New Debt:  1,650,000,000,000
National Debt:  14,271,000,000,000
Recent Budget Cuts:  38,500,000,000 (about 1% of budget)

To help put these numbers into perspective, lets look at a simplified real World example using the same data.  I removed the zeros to make the finacial numbers and comparison easier.

Annual income for the Smith family:  $21,700
Amount of money the Smith family spent:  $38,200
Amount of new credit card debt: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card:  $142,710
Amount cut from the budget:  $385

This is the lame cuts I am talking about.  We need serious cuts to fix the system.  It’s not about asking for more money which will only put a temporary bandaid on the bigger problem.  Cut the programs, Cut the spending, and Cut the politicians not fixing or making suggestions.  Put laws in place to control spending and a forcing a balance budget (with limits).  Hold politicians and slacker politicians accountable.

Time to clean house and remove anyone and everyone not correcting these issues.

November 7, 2011

Dear Representative McDermott,
Dear Senator Cantwell,
Dear Senator Murray,

As a proud member of the Tea Party movement and TheTeaParty.net and as one of your constituents I am writing you today to encourage that you support an exhaustive and complete investigation of the $535 million dollar boondoggle known as Solyndra. The American people deserve to know what happened. Why hasn’t Obama been impeached?  He spends 100% of his time on the campaign trail trying to get more money. Make him say why he fast tracked the loan to Solyndra. We the people pay the price for his stupidity and it’s time to stop this. Does anyone in Washington believe the constitution is the law of the land, not some exectutive order that a man signs when it’s very quetionable he is really eligilible to even be president?  Make him park Air Force One for awhile and give him an education that he is not a dictator.

Sincerely,

Lilly in Seattle

Remember last June when Governor was so upset working on the budget? She said she was cutting/slashing and she did not like what she was having to do at all. She said they worked with extremely low budgets and stream lined everything they did with no frills. Well you already know that is a crock of baloney, when you look at the salaries they pay the top managers, superintendents or whatever they are called. There are many stories in this Emerald City Journal about the superintendent of the school, the president of the University of Washington etc so wont list numbers here but since they are paid by “we the taxpayers” its should be a crime. The June budget she signed made massive cuts to education, including the reduction of teachers salaries of 1.9%. She said she did not like the budget but the state just has no money and there will be another larger cut across the board. BUT, the day after she gave that speech about the budget she left on a trade trip. She didn’t mention that in her speech. Why didn’t she say,” I am going on a very expensive trip, tomorrow with a huge delegation at taxpayer expense”? Before she headed out on her European trade trip with her delegation she said it would cost less than $40,000. But the actual cost(that we know about) is more than double that. Her hotel room in Paris was $500 a night. She had not included the cost of her security, which cost more than her estimate of $40,000. She had not included the wages of the people she took along on this vacation. They all got paid the same as if they were home working on whatever they are supposed to be doing plus per diem’s, $100 dinners , $56.00 lunches. They took in the Paris Air Show and as far as I know A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL. We paid for it. Things have gotten worse and she is going to call a special session to deal with the shortfall, and call for an additional 10% across the board cut. Why would anyone believe a thing she says about spending after that slap in the face with that expensive trip? What plans does she have now that she is a lame duck Governor? She better take all the taxpayer paid trips she can before she quits. For sure we the people should not get hit for a tax, fee, or anything else. Government(all of it) has to stop the spending. Look at Congress doing nothing but fighting with each other and cobbling agreements to keep the government from shutting down all the while spend, spend spend. President Obama has been doing nothing but campaigning since before he was elected. He travels all over in his little Air Force One and costs city’s fortunes by coming to visit, but when he arrived at Boeing field last month Governor Gregoire was right there giving him the thumbs up. She is not capable of creating a budget. She(and most of the politicians) do not have a clue what the word means. For sure it means you cant spend more than you have on hand. A fifth grader would know that. I hope someone really questions her budget numbers because she has proved she has no interest in keeping expenses down. She only wants them to figure out how to suck more money out of us people who are already hurting. I had to really talk to myself when I spent over ten bucks on fish and chips at Ivar.s the other day because it was from my social security check and believe me I know what cut and slash expenses mean. The governor obviously does not. It should be a crime to waste our money the way she did on her trip. She had to know she could not do it on $40,000 and even that was way to much in these hard times. Don’t believe the phony numbers she uses or the crap she says when she says how it hurts her to make these cuts.

Like most things in Washington – they fail.  The 12 member group “Super Commitee” formed after the debt ceiling crisis to greatly reduce our debt by November has officially failed.  In fact, you can stick a fork in this “Super Committee” because it’s over.  The failure wasn’t due to it’s members (both Republicans & Democrats) but due to bribes kickbacks the members are now getting to only enhance their own political agendas.  The problem is a procedural issue where this type of behavior is still allowed in our system. 

If you don’t know the theory it’s simple actually.  The group members sit around a table to discuss debt reduction and cutting programs for spending.  Companies and special groups in the public gives these members cash/contributions to help them with their campaigns and by doing so the political member supports them (by not messing with them – or cutting them).  In short, they “buy influence” in the group.  I call this corruption while others argue it’s legal. 

These kickbacks must stop after people are elected.  I understand running for a position and getting elected is expensive.  You’ll need private funding for this and your political views to the public represent the groups that are investing in you getting elected.  The public votes and if they like what you’re saying and the groups you represent then you get elected (that is fair).  Once elected, however, you represent the people and shouldn’t be able to accept bribes kickbacks anymore.  How can we have elected officials in office who with just a little bit of money will change their mind about topics and/or vote accordingly by persuasion.  It’s not about the people’s wants or needs then. 

The “buy influence” corruption must end after someone is elected.  It’s unfair to the public and these officials belong in jail.

I understand the title of this article is hardcore but the reality is that a recent decision by the FDA Agency will kill people in 2012. It could be you, a loved one, or maybe a close friend.

Starting in 2012, Primatene Mist will be taken off the shelves by the FDA Agency due to “CFCs depleting the ozone”. If you don’t know what Primatene Mist is it’s the ONLY over the counter immediate relief for asthma. There is nothing that compares to Primatene Mist and with thousands of positive reviews online, it works perfectly. It costs about $15 dollars at Walmart (over the counter) and is very popular because it works – fast (unlike a tablet that takes time to dissolve). I’ve personally been on Primatene Mist my whole life like the thousands and thousands of people who use it everyday to “just get by” or for emergencies because with asthma a simple sneeze can trigger an asthmatic attacked. I have been rescued by Primatene Mist on several occasions and would even say that it may have saved my life on several occasions (plus many trips to the ER). The same is true for thousands of other customers who have asthma worse than I do. I have challenged myself on several occasions to just find one negative review (or customer/medical problems) with Primatene Mist online. Out of the thousands and thousands of customer who use it everyday there is nothing negative. In fact, you find why more medical issues with aspirin. Primatene Mist has been a safe and effective treatment for asthma symptoms for over 40 years now. After reading all the reviews and feedback regarding the FDA’s decision to ban Primatene Mist, their customers are extremely angry and death is discussed quite often (due to prescription costs, waiting times at doctors offices, and the low quality of medication not working for them). They are seriously concerned they will die due to the FDA Agency.

Is this FDA decision meant to push people to spend money on doctor visits, ER visits, insurance, and over priced asthma prescriptions forever? Does the FDA really care about CFC’s depleting the ozone? If that was the case, why not pull hairspray, fire extinguishers, paint booths, air conditioning, and perfumes.  It’s a reckless decision by the FDA Agency (leaving no other solution available) and unfortunately many more asthmatics will die in 2012 as compared to the previous years.

I’m starting to question the honesty of the FDA Agency (working in raise revenue and/or with other drug companies) after this outlaw decision scheduled to kill people in 2012.  It makes you question their expertise and “nanny” behaviors.   When do we as citizens draw the line and say that is enough?  This isn’t a life threatening decision but more of power play to keep control and ownership of the public.  We don’t want the FDA in our personal lives or making decisions to control our lives right?  When do we say no that is a personal heath choice and not a legal or World health decision?  The FDA Agencies job is national defense and science. Those are the only issues that should require FDA involvement.  If not, the FDA will be banning sugar next because it’s unhealthy (actually soda has been taken out of school already mostly).  If not several years from now it will only get worse.  You know cancer is less common in women who have had children and it’s more common in women who have had abortions.  Breast cancer is one of the most expensive diseases we have, however, should it be monitored and forced on you to make the world a more “healthy” place.  There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed in personal choice and healthy (or not) lifestyles and we need to make sure that line is not crossed with the FDA.