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Who Is Really The One Watching Your Tax Dollars Part 1

Posted by James Burns on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:00:00 AM
So who is really watching how our tax dollars are spent. I did some research and found an organization who rates both the House and the Senate on how they vote on spending. It also rates each Congressman and Senator on whether or not they are watching out for our interests as far as wasteful spending. The organization is named Citizens Against Government Waste. This is a citizen based non partisan watch dog group. I thought this would be a great topic since three of our candidates in this election are US Senators.

The report used for this post goes as far back as 2005. This was the last year the Republicans were in control of both houses of congress. These numbers only represent the Senate. During that year Republicans voted 68% of the time in favor of the US taxpayer against wasteful spending. The Democrats only 18%. In 2006 after the Republicans lost control of the Senate they still voted 68% of the time in favor of the taxpayer and against wasteful spending. The Democrats 15%, a little decline. Now for the year of 2007 the Republicans voted 67% of the time in the taxpayers favor, a small drop. But now that the Dem's have had control for over a year, their record shows a drastic drop to only 5% of the time did the watch out for the US taxpayer when it came to wasteful spending. So what party has been a more consistent good steward of the American tax dollar. Based on this I would say the Republicans.
 
So know we go to the individuals themselves. I will start with Barack Obama. He has the shortest term of the three Senators running for the nations two top offices this year. As a senator, Barack Obama has voted in favor of the American taxpayer  10% of the time. His lifetime rating for his short time in the senate is 18% of the time. Next we go to Senator Joe Biden. His 2007 record shows that he only voted in favor of the taxpayer 0% of the time. In his over 30 years in the senate his rating is a whopping 22%. Last on the list. Lets just say the best record for last, John McCain. His record shows that during 2007 he voted 100% of the time in the taxpayers favor against wasteful spending. His lifetime number is 88%. So you see while all three call themselves fiscal conservatives, the numbers speak for themselves. Joe Biden really doesn't care if your patriotic or not, he needs the cash. Tomorrow I will go over Joe Biden's 2008  record for pork barrel earmarks that he has sponsored.

All information was provided by the Citizens Against Government Waste. Thank you for your work at watching out for the American taxpayer.
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Obama's Blah, Blah, Blah

Posted by James Burns on Monday, September 22, 2008 12:00:00 AM
Seems the news coverage is all about the Wall Street bail out and what will it contain and cost the US taxpayer, the role of the two presidental canidates and their stands on the situation and what their plans may be. I heard John McCain Friday lay out some details of a plan and what he would do in this situation. That is a lot more  than Barack Obama has said. Obama has said I have a plan, but will not give any details. He states he doesn't want to interfere with what is going on up on Capitol Hill. News flash Obama you are still a Senator not president yet, do the job you have already been elected to do. McCain says he has a plan and wants to set up a trust to oversee the banking industry. At least McCain is wanting to take a stand as a Senator. He has spoken to Hank Paulson, Treasury Secretary. Not sure if Obama has. Obama says he wants more economic stimulus, that worked once right? McCain wants to hold those who are to blame responsible. McCain called for reforms two or three years ago. Obama says he called for reform at the same time, but were is the record of that. Why didn't he stand with McCain when he called for reform. Was he too busy being a Democrat and not serving the interests of the people?  Or was he receiving too much money from Fannie and Freddie to really do anything. Since I started writing this a few new details have come up.

On Fox News I saw a Republican congresswoman, I did not get her name, but the cost of the bailout has gone up from 700 billion dollars to now 1.5 trillion dollars. This is now gone beyond obsurd. Another story that came in at the same time, John McCain has called for a bipartisan commission to study and oversee any bailout. Some names were given for that commission they were Mitt Romney, Warren Buffet and Michael Bloomberg.  Congressman Barney Franks (D, Ma) is also calling for oversight, but by the US comptroller general. But why didn't Franks do anything earlier. He is chairman of the house Financial Services Commitee, why didn't he do anything earlier. The Dems like to point the finger, but don't want to take blame. Sen. Chris Dodd (D, Ct) was on MSNBC this morning and said that during the past 8 years this has been building. But Sen Dodd you are forgetting  President Clinton signed the fair housing act pushing for the sale of sub prime mortgages for low income home buyers. President Clinton also signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999. This act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall act which prohibited banks from getting into commercial, investment banking and insurance. This allowed banks to put their eggs in one basket and get into markets they shouldn't be in. John McCain will announce more details tomorrow at a town hall meeting in Scranton, Pa. Here is just another example of leadership by McCain, who even as running for president is taking his job as a senator seriously. So I ask, who is out for the best interest of America?
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Our Economic System And The Parable of The House Built On Sand

Posted by James Burns on Sunday, September 21, 2008 12:00:00 AM
As the days pour on and the talk on the news about Wall Street, it's possible government bailout, and the mess it has created. Brings me to the parable that Jesus Christ spoke of the house built on the rock and the house built on sand. As a conservative Christian, I have read and heard this parable about the Kingdom of God. In the book of Matthew Jesus said "So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them will be like the sensible man who built his house upon the rock. And the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like the stupid man who built his house upon the sand. And the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell-and  great and complete was the fall of it."

So I liken our economy like the house built on sand. Why, because it is based on debt, credit and interest rates. During the good times it stays together and things go well. But in a storm and you can liken this crisis like Katrina or Ike, it falls apart and is washed away to nothing. No plugging the levy will stop the flood and save the house. It will be washed away.

But when our economy was founded, it was founded on the rock, gold. Every US dollar had a specific value to it based on the gold the country had. The more gold we had the higher the value of our money. There were very few economic crashes during the time of the gold standard. The only one I know of was the one that started the Great Depression. That was caused by bad banking practices as well. But since that time until the devaluation of the dollar there have been very few problems. In fact our economy was never better after the Depression. But since the devaluation of the dollar these types of incidents seems to happen every 5 to 10 years or so. So since we took our house off its solid foundation, we are living on the beach and have to rebuild every so often due to the storms.  So when do we get off the beach and build on the rock for a good foundation, so our house can withstand the storms and the test of time. So I ask again are we the stupid man or the sensible man?

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Why Does The Burden Of A Wall Street Bailout Have To Be Put On My Back?

Posted by James Burns on Saturday, September 20, 2008 1:01:14 AM
Why is the Wall Street bailout my responsibility? When all is said and done according to Sen Chris Dodd (D, CT) it could be one trillion dollars. Thats means according to what news reports have said is over 8,000 dollars per person in the United States. So that means the tax money that I pay is not going to benefit me or my family or friends, but to bailout some Wall Street investment bank that was mismanaged.

So what does this bailout really entail, lets see. It basically is the federal government borrowing money, probably from China, to buy all of the bad debt from these institutions and resell it for pennies on the dollar. It will also contain anything that our congressional leadership can throw in. Not even 24 hours after the announcement Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D,CA) has asked to include an extra 50 billion dollars for economic stimulus. Well if the first stimulus package didn't work we are all sure a second one will. So this tells me politics as usual. How many earmarks will be stuffed in before all is said and done. Funny thing is once this bill is finalized and hits Capitol Hill it cannot be amended. So its either yes or no votes only. Perfect for an election year. The only good that can come out of this is some of these homes that are going to be foreclosed on, the owners may get some refinancing and be able to keep there homes and pay back their debt. But many will not.

When this plan was announced to the public by congressional leadership, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank and the head of the Treasury, Wall Street responded very favorably, with Dow Jones futures trading going real high overnight. Yesterday the market closed well over 300 points  above its opening to almost break even for the week. So it seems to me the message that was sent out is, great we can screw the economy up and good old Uncle Sam can bail us out and all will be business as usual. Don't think anyone on Wall Street learned any lessons from this mess. On the down side oil rose to over 104 dollars a barrel.

So what does this mean for the working class folks out there, lets see:
  1. Taxes going up, less government help for real problems such as health care, little or no money for road and infrastructure improvements and the list is goes on.
  2. Most working class folks got payed yesterday. With this bail out the value of the US dollar just went down. So we all lost money before we even got paid.
  3. Oil is traded in US dollars. One of the key factors in its price is the value of the US dollar. Thats why it jumped so high.
  4. The rest of the world sees our country as weak and a laughing stock. If we as a nation borrow any more money we can become a third world country overnight. Wouldn't Osama Bin Laden love that.
So what should we do?
  1. Tell your senators and congressmen to vote no for this bailout. Yes our economy will get hit hard, but it will come back. It will come back because of hard working people like you and me, who will strive to make it what it was.
  2. Make those greedy people at the top of Wall Street who started this mess pay for what they have done. Give back all of the large bonuses, stock packages, etc.
  3. Vote out all those government leaders who turned a blind eye to all of this. Many in government warned of this and were not listened to.
  4. Finally never again let Wall Street control our economy. The ones who need to be in control are the people who grow our food, work in our factories, work 12 - 16 hours a day to make end meet. Seems the few with, control all of those without. Doesn't sound like true democracy to me.
  5. Instead of throwing one trillion dollars to Wall St. How about helping the little guy. Those who hold sub prime mortgages should be given a chance. Some knowingly went in to these agreements, others were deceived and did not have full understanding or the mess they were getting into. This will be hard to prove,so the easiest way to go about this is to allow these original loans to be rewritten. Forgive any missed payments and late fees, drop interest rates down to the level that they were at the loans inception and lock them in for 10 years. This should give plenty of time for people to fix their situation. It will also stop greedy Wall Street firms from raising these peoples interest rates. I am sure that this route will cost a lot less to the US taxpayer than the "Trillion Dollar Plan."
I have had my own personal financial problems in the past. No one was there to bail me out. I had to do it on my own. I got through those times by hard work and dedication and the grace of God. Why should we give anyone else an easy way out. Seems some never have to pay for their mistakes, just everyone else.  But if a bail out is what is needed, then why bail out the big guys who messed things up, but instead take care of the little guy who makes this country strong.
 

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Who's fault is it.

Posted by James Burns on Friday, September 19, 2008 9:48:50 AM
This is my first blog so please bear with me. But sitting here at home due to a back injury from work I have had a lot of time to watch the political coverage on all the major news networks.
  
So this week we have had a huge financial crisis hit our economy, and it is up to people like me the working class to pick up the pieces. Why do I say this, the working class is the largest tax base in the country. We account for the majority of the tax revenue coming in. It will always be that way. So here are my observations on why this all happened:

Sub prime lending has been around for many years. It didn't hit real popularity until the mid 1990's due to the passage of a housing act by the Clinton administration to allow the purchase of homes by low income families. I am not saying that low income families shouldn't own homes, but I will tell you if you can't afford it don't buy it. Some people just cannot afford to own a home and that is a sad fact. So when Clinton left and Bush took over these loan practices still went on. Bush even extended the act. This created a large debt selling market. Allowing investors to buy loans  on the speculation of profit. Most of these loans were adjustable rate loans, so after each sale of that loan the interest would go up until the payments were impossible to pay for these people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became the number one purchasers of these loans. Now I thought Fannie Mae and Freddie were mortgage companies for the people not investment banks.
But these two institutions have been large Democratic bastions since their inceptions and have long histories of supporting the left. One of the people who is on the congressional leadership  meeting to fix this mess is Chris Dodd (D CT). He is the biggest recipient of funds from Fannie and Freddie. In fact the top four are Democrats on that list they are as stated Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton with amounts given ranging from $134,000 to $75,000. Though Fannie and Freddie gave money to people on both sides these Dems have benefited the most. If they care so much how much this is going to cost the tax payer then give the money back.  Sen. McCain warned of the problems at Fannie and Freddy even tried to pass legislation to fix them. But he was put off not listened to by congress or by the White House. Well it seems now everyone knows that there is an 800 pound gorilla in the room.

So what happens when these loans go unpaid, well here it is:
  • Banks lose money, I lose money.
  • Towns and states lose money from the unpaid taxes on those properties. So our towns and states don't have money to operate on. My taxes go up.
  • Home owners insurance policies go unpaid making, my rates go up because of the insurance companies loss. Insurance companies also invested in this market so their losses again make my rates go up. You see what happened to AIG.
  • People who own these homes now don't have one.
  • The investors on Wall Street who bought all of these bad loans lose money. Again I lose money from my retirement because of my 401k.
  • CEO's who managed these companies walk away with multi million dollar packages to leave. How fair is that.
So you see in a mess like this the only ones who benefit are the ones at the top. This includes CEO's and politicians. So how can this be fixed, how can the working class not have to pay for this. Here is my ideas:

  • CEO's of all failed or bailed out companies be force to repay their golden parachute packages. Make politicians who have received money from these institutions give it back. None of them had the money to give it away.
  • Disband Freddie and Freddie and start new. These institutions are too corrupt to keep going.
  • Ban sub prime loans.
  • Ban short selling. If you don't have it, how  can you sell it?
  • Bring back the gold standard. Any economy that is credit based is like running a big slot machine. You may win sometimes, but eventually you will lose. This will give our money some worth. Not base its worth on the ability to pay it back. 
  • Finally stop giving people something for nothing. This country is so full of people who say " I am entitled to this or that" If you can't work for it, then you can't have it. Thats how I have to live.
So bottom line is I blame everyone, Democrat, Republican, Wall Street and the list goes on. What we need is a big change. The only ones who can do just that and have changed things before in their respective circles are John McCain and Sarah Palin. Obama and Biden don't have the records of change to do this. When our government can put us first, not status, career, party etc. then our country will be the prominent world force it used to be. As for me in couple of months I will go back to work throwing cases of soda for a large soda company and keep paying for all those involved mistakes until we get someone who will finally say stop.
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