Over the past few months, it has occurred to me that our politicians and our media are treating this debt ceiling debate like a poker game. They negotiate, they golf, they bluff and they have press conferences and generally try to score points for themselves. Their primary concern is not the people or the nation, it's their political profiles. Normally, you know politicians are only out for themselves but this time they have completely dropped all pretenses of concern for the nation. I am disgusted by all of them. The finances of America are not a game and “we the people” are not game pieces in their hegemonic chess game. Millions of people are out of work and millions more people, with or without college degrees, have low paying crappy jobs. People all over America are still losing their homes, cars and their savings. The whole idea that normal people have to be sacrificed in order to get the debt ceiling raised is ridiculous. The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962, so there is no reason not to do it without any other legislation attached to it. The only acceptable exception to this would be if they attached a job creation bill to raising the Debt Ceiling.
We do not need to raise the social security age. Right now for someone my age (45) it is already 67 if I want to get my full benefits or I can wait until I am 72 to collect a little bit more. Any older and I could be dead by the time I was eligible to collect the money that I have paid into the system. Social security and Medicare are not a gift. I like many other people have been paying into social security since I was 15 years old. For the last 30 years, I have been paying into Social Security and Medicare. There are people who believe that we have to make cuts in education, social security, Medicare, police, fire departments and other hallmarks of a civil society. These people are delusional and quite frankly they should not be listen to. I do not care what any republican or democrat politician says on this matter unless they are going to ensure my ability to collect my money at an age when I might still be alive. Yes, I realize that Social Security should not be my only retirement plan but almost everyone's retirement plan included their social security benefits. Social Security payments are normally included in retirement planning.
We do not need to raise the social security age. Right now for someone my age (45) it is already 67 if I want to get my full benefits or I can wait until I am 72 to collect a little bit more. Any older and I could be dead by the time I was eligible to collect the money that I have paid into the system. Social security and Medicare are not a gift. I like many other people have been paying into social security since I was 15 years old. For the last 30 years, I have been paying into Social Security and Medicare. There are people who believe that we have to make cuts in education, social security, Medicare, police, fire departments and other hallmarks of a civil society. These people are delusional and quite frankly they should not be listen to. I do not care what any republican or democrat politician says on this matter unless they are going to ensure my ability to collect my money at an age when I might still be alive. Yes, I realize that Social Security should not be my only retirement plan but almost everyone's retirement plan included their social security benefits. Social Security payments are normally included in retirement planning.
Hmmm, so if we don’t cut Social security and medicare, what should be cut? Oh, I know! Why don’t we end any or all of the three wars we have going on. They cost a lot of money but no one really talks about stopping any one of the wars. The Afghanistan and Iraq war cost about $14 billion a month. The Libya “no fly-zone” cost about $40 million a month. Osama bin Laden is dead. Saddam Hussein is dead. We’ve thrown Muammar Qaddafi under the bus, so it is only a matter of time before he is dead too. There is no need to continue with these costly wars. The chart below illustrates the amount of money we are throwing down a hole on war.
Cost of War in Billions | ||||
Iraq | Afghanistan | Enhance security | Unable to allocate | |
FY 2001/2002 | 20.8 | $13.0 | ||
FY 2003 | $53.00 | 14.7 | $8.0 | 5.5 |
FY 2004 | $75.90 | 14.5 | $3.7 | |
FY 2005 | $85.50 | 20 | $2.1 | |
FY 2006 | $101.60 | 19 | $0.8 | |
FY 2007 | $131.20 | 39.2 | $0.5 | |
FY 2008 | $142.10 | 43.5 | $0.1 | |
FY 2009 | $95.50 | 59.5 | $0.1 | |
FY 2010 | $65.90 | 104.9 | $0.1 | |
FY 2011 | $51.10 | 119.4 | $0.1 | |
$802 | 455.5 | $28.5 | 5.5 | |
Total Deficit! $1,500,000,000
Total Spend on War! $1,291,300,000
Difference $20,8700,000
As you can see from the chart above, if we didn't start these wars our deficit problems might not exist. The longer the wars go on (10 years so far), the bigger the deficit gets. It's not that complicated. The remaining $20 billion of deficit is probably due to the cost for the “war on drugs”, the interest on deficit and lost tax revenues from corporate taxes, hedge fund managers and people making over $1,000,0000 a year.
We have thrown away billions of dollars fighting the Global War on terrorism (GWOT). When I say thrown away, I literally mean thrown away. Once a bomb or bullet is used you can’t get it back. All the computer equipment the military buys gets left behind and burned, even if it could be fixed or reused. We lost $12 billion of cash in Iraq. That’s right lost. $12 billion weighs about 360 tons and you’d think this would make it easy to keep up with but it wasn’t. So when some politician tells you we need to cut education, Social Security and Medicare and other government services, tell them to go find the $12 Billion they lost.
Watch this short clip from Jon Stewart on the no so funny loss of $12 Billion in cash in Iraq, that we are still paying for as a part of our national debt.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Money For Nothing | ||||
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Prior to 2009 the two wars we are fighting were unfunded requirements. That means the cost of the wars were not included in the budget. I know this to be a fact because for most for the wars I worked for the Department of Defense (DoD). At the beginning of every fiscal year we would get our budgeted funds and then by January or February, the DoD would take some of the money back from our command to use for the wars. Then around May there would be a supplementary funding request sent to congress, which if it did not get funded would severely hamper DoD operations. The request for additions funds would be funded by July and if you didn’t spend all your supplementary funding by the beginning of September, they would take it back and send it to the war zone. The funding of the war was like a giant three card Monty game; really just a big scam. At the same time, taxes were lowered for some people, mostly people at the high and low ends of the tax tables. It is really simple: We are spending too much money on the military and do not collect enough taxes to cover the cost of the war.
Ironically, a lot of the money being spend in Iraq and Afghanistan goes to build schools, roads, water treatment plants and other infrastructure projects just like the ones we need in America. At this point you have to wonder why are we using our money to help people we are at war with and kill regularly. The only kind reason I can think of is because we are really brainwashed and need to be deprogrammed.
So now, we have three wars and a big debt, and the economy is in really bad shape, if you are not rich. But now we all need to share the sacrifice according to our rich politicians who will get their congressional pensions and government funded health care just for serving in office. We are told by politicians of all stripes that entitlement programs must be cut and we have to be adults and take our medicine. So at this point if I was ever in a room with one of these jokers I would be thrown out because of all the expletives that would fly from my mouth. It would go a little like this:
You stupid {beep} {beep}. What the {beep} do you mean shared sacrifices? You dumb {beep} make more money than most people, get better benefits and way more vacation time than any normal working person. Why don’t you show us the way to sacrifice by cutting you own {beep} salaries and benefits. Let’s means test your {beep} pensions. You can kiss my {beep} you dumb {beep} {beep}. Stop these costly wars and stop sucking corporate {beep} and represent the interests of the people! You can fill in the blanks, with your favorite expletive.
There is no reason for normal people to sacrifice. We have already done that with low wages, foreclosures, outsourcing of our jobs, poor education system, and in many other ways to numerous to mention. The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962, so there is no reason not to do it without any other legislation attached to it. We did not cause the financial crisis, but we bailed out the banks. We did not start the wars, but some of us fight them and all of us are paying for them. I should not have to eat cat food when I'm old to fix rich people screw ups. I did not screw up and neither did you. If you are one of the many people who have bought into the idea that Social Security and Medicare are the problem, it is time to think differently. It's not our fault, don't believe the hype.
End the wars; raise taxes on the wealthy, end corporate tax loopholes and leave Social Security and Medicare alone. I am sure this will not happen because our politicians are mostly wealthy and out of touch with the day to day realities of life in the United States. (Check out the article “The 50 Richest Members of Congress”).
Call the President, your senator and your representative and tell them, whether they are a democrat or republican, you will not vote for them if they cut Medicare and/or Social Security.
The White House Phone Numbers Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 TTY/TDD: 202-456-6213 | US Senate Phone list by state: Click here to access | U.S. House of Representatives (202) 224-3121 TTY: (202)-225-1904 Find your Representative: http://www.house.gov/representatives/ |
Ciao for Now,
Fobbsie
