Everyone seems fed up with the phony baloney in government. Everyday on TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and internet news there are headlines of LYING, CHEATING and STEALING. Elected officials, staffers, and private citizens who have figured out how to cheat the government are making the rest of us feel like the biggest losers. We pay our taxes and someone how we are swindled blind.

Sometimes the schemes are simple. Congressman Charlie Rangel who represents Harlem in New York City, openly used taxpayer provided letterhead, staff, copiers, long distance, transportation and his time to pursue multi-million gifts for the Charlie Rangel Public Policy Center he wants to build at the New York City Community College. All the while pursuing corporations and foundations who repeatedly were in front of him for official business in his capacity as the chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. This is a direct ethical violation. He knew it. His staff knew it. The prospective donors knew it.

To suggest otherwise is a LIE. To accept the million dollar gifts he received is an example of CHEATING. To keep the money and challenge the Ethics Committee tying up taxpayer funds to continue the charade is STEALING.

The other charges against him, that he kept a rent-controlled apartment in Harlem, while everyone else in Harlem paid full rent is CHEATING. The fact that he didn’t report rental income and didn’t pay taxes on property in the Dominican Republic is STEALING. The fact that he didn’t report a stock fund valued between $500,000 and $1,000,000 on his ethics report is LYING. How he was able to amass this amount in savings on a $125,000 income is astonishing.

Charlie Rangel is a LIAR, a CHEATER and a STEALER. To fight and suggest he isn’t guilty is ridiculous.

Other schemes are extraordinarily complicated. The “Mortgage Meltdown” is routinely blamed on Wall Street and we know what happened….they got a major influx of taxpayer cash to solve their problems because they were “too big too fail”. The 2008 TARP contribution from taxpayers is currently estimated to have cost $89 billion and is still being paid back. There were hundreds of bonuses paid to Wall Street executives who were part of the meltdown. They LIED, CHEATED and STOLE from us and were rewarded for doing it.

Now the scoop is that The Obama Administration is toying with a new stimulus package for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Hmmm.

Sen. Chris Dodd and Cong. Barney Frank, who originally insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government banks that backed higher risk mortgages and arguably caused the very collapse, were purposefully LEFT OUT of the recent financial overhaul of Wall Street that is heralded as making America safer for stockholders. Did you wonder why?? Well, ask your Congressman. It was a straight party vote. Democrats for and Republicans against.

Well now guess what’s on the horizon? An $800 billion bailout plan for Freddie and Fannie….why you say? Because they still own the ridiculous mortgage loans they made to people who should not have been given loans they couldn’t afford “underwater” or on houses that are no longer worth the amount they paid for them “upside down”.

So you, who bought a house you could afford and have continued to make your payments and suffered through this horrible economic downturn, will be asked to bail out those who did not make that decision. In other words, you are getting CHEATED. Your tax dollars will go to your neighbors who bought a house they could not afford and are not making their payments. They perhaps were LIARS on their applications. They are going to get taxpayer dollars from the government to adjust their mortgages down to a level to help them get a better rate predicted to be as much as 10 to 40 % lower. This is STEALING

Since when did any President feel compelled to spend such an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars without Congressional input, for a such a small number of people who may be made up by a large group of LIARS, CHEATERS, and STEALERS?

Did I mention $800 BILLION in late August, by Executive Order. No action on the part of Congress. It seems INCONCEIVABLE.

Thus reported today by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

If I thought I could get away with it, I would quit paying my mortgage, but my mother taught me not to LIE, not to CHEAT and not to STEAL.

annie presley

annie@mckellarconsulting.com

August 6, 2010

(The opinions of all Independent Insider blogsters do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers, staff and advertisers of The Independent or the Independent Insider. They are solely the views of the individual contributors.)

We took the girls (11 and 15) to our nation’s capitol to celebrate its birthday. There were so many people.  It was a sea of humanity.  We reveled in it and were amazed by it.   We also sweated all over town.  The record-breaking temperatures of 102 and 103 were almost too much.  But we did it all anyway.

The White House tour.  The Capitol.  Our favorite Senator’s office, Kit Bond, from the great State of Missouri.  Mt. Vernon.  The war memorials.  The major monuments.  The amazing Smithsonian.  Fireworks. We saw “Mary Poppins” at the incredible Kennedy Center.  We even took the Metro to the baseball stadium for a Nationals game.  It was a great trip.

There was an interesting theme we saw play out over the course of our visit while we stayed in a hotel, ate every meal out, stood in line after line, picked up tickets at will call, went through security checks, and interacted with gobs of people working in a variety of jobs.  Guess what?  There are a ton of grumpy people in Washington DC who hate their jobs and lots of them work for our government.

We met tons of people working all over town.  Guys picking up trash on the Mall after 400,000 people watched fireworks and left their junk behind.   There were cab drivers all over the place.  Maids at the hotel.  Waiters.  Store clerks.  Subway workers.  None of these jobs are particularly thrilling.  But, they ARE jobs.  For the 9.5% of Americans looking for jobs, I’m guessing they might be interested in some of these opportunities.  But, a fair number of these working people were grumpy.  Granted those outside in the swelter, picking up other people’s trash, I can understand, but it’s still a job.  Yet those inside in the cushy air conditioning, who sat on their tushes and answered the simplest of questions from tourists, I just don’t get.  Why do they hate their jobs?

The sorriest of all the workers were at the US Capitol Visitors Center. Inexplicable.  The security guards bellowed impolitely at visitors who stood orderly and quietly in the blazing sun while waiting to get in.  Inside the workers were dressed smartly in red vests and directed us to various lines which led us to desk clerks who were basically unhelpful and extremely rude and sent us to a movie and then on a tour.

Our tour guides had snappy royal blue sport coats and gave the incredibly important and fascinating info in the manner you would expect because they’ve given it to a million other groups.

Inside the crisp, clean, new, refreshing $621 million underground facility was full of tourists where you can eat in a lovely café, see members of Congress rushing about and find your way to the Capitol itself.  It is old world gorgeous. Astonishingly, amazingly, glorious.  So much history in our very young country.

We already know that federal government employees are generally well paid, have great health insurance, an extraordinary pension plan and generally nothing to complain about except that it’s a job.  IT’S A JOB!  Should be proud, happy, grateful, pleased to be inside, working in America’s home.  Thankful that taxpayers still come by to say “hello”.

Word to the folks in charge at the Visitors Center.  Get with the program.  No reason to let your staff be rude to us.  We pay ‘em.  Tell ‘em to be polite. We’re the ones who waited outside in the heat to get in there.

Or better yet, why not weed out the less-than-lively employees enjoying all these terrific benefits we taxpayers provide and hire some unemployed folks who really WANT a job.  That might be a better formula.

Given the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth in DC, take it.  We loved it. Happy Birthday America!!

annie presley
annie@mckellarconsulting.com

(The opinions of all Independent Insider blogsters do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers, staff and advertisers of The Independent or the Independent Insider. They are solely the views of the individual contributors.)

If Elena Kagan is confirmed, six of our Supreme Court Justices will be Roman Catholic and three will be Jewish.  I find this absolutely astonishing.  What I find further astonishing is that no one is ranting and raving about it.   According to the Pew Foundation, 51% of America worships in a Protestant church, 24% at a Catholic Mass and 1.7% in a Synagogue.  It’s almost unbelievable that not one law school in America is able to produce a Protestant qualified to sit on the High Court.  Hmmmm.

If Elena Kagan is confirmed, all of the Supreme Court will be from Harvard or Yale.  While there are over 1 million lawyers in America having been educated at 200 law schools, it seems that to be a Supreme Court Justice you must go to Harvard or Yale.   So in the land of opportunity, if you work hard you can grow up to be any thing you want to be EXCEPT a Supreme Court justice because you have to go to Harvard or Yale!  Hmmmm.

If Elena Kagan is confirmed, she will be the first Justice in recent years to be appointed who hasn’t been a real judge.  There have been many justices before her who “read the law”, but this job is all about interpreting case law, and court law and the way judges have applied the constitution in real cases in real courtrooms in real situations.  I’m not so sure I want the Dean of Law School interpreting and applying the Constitution for the first time on the Supreme Court making it the law of the land FOREVER.  My husband disagrees, but why would we want her to start practicing at this level?  Hmmmm.

Does any of this trouble you?

Now I don’t know Ms. Kagan, and trust Maureen Dowd who says she’s a girly girl and assures us that Kagan’s not gay.  That’s another matter I’m really unprepared to comment on….but don’t want to leave it unsaid.

Good grief, can’t we have a Supreme Court Justice from Missouri Law School or Kansas Law School?  Would it be so bad to have someone where farmers work the land, business gets done with a handshake and kids still walk to school on rainy days?

From the great Midwest, the breadbasket of America, where people just get up every day to do their jobs and don’t worry so much about the Ivy League, Wall Street and being in the elite status category.  Is it out of the question that the Supreme Court might include representation from folks like that too?

Right now the Supreme Court is made up of men, women, whites, black, Hispanic, Catholics and Jews, all upper class elitists from Harvard and Yale.

What, no hard working Protestants from the Midwest?

Houston, we gotta problem!

annie presley

annie@mckellarconsulting.com

(The opinions of all Independent Insider blogsters do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers, staff and advertisers of The Independent or the Independent Insider. They are solely the views of the individual contributors.)

Obama Care passed and we have little idea what’s in it or how much it will really cost.  All Republicans and 34 Democrats did not support it.  54% of Americans said they did not want it.  It is important to linger here a moment.  It was not desired by MOST people….while most everyone agreed that some sort of reform was needed.

Yet this bill, that includes hiring 16,500 IRS workers to process the taxes, is not the answer.   Not sure how we will pay for it.  Ever.  It’s supposedly going to cost $1 Trillion over ten years.  My calculator doesn’t even go that far.

The Tax Policy Center projects that 47 percent of all U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2009. And, the bottom 40 percent of income earners will actually receive a cash payment from the government at tax time. This cash payment is styled as a “refund” but it is actually a net cash transfer from the government–not a refund of taxes actually withheld on income. And for many Americans, this cash transfer from Uncle Sam actually exceeds all federal, state and local taxes that they pay in any form during the year including sales taxes and social security taxes.

According to the US Census Bureau, 309 million people live in America and they all are getting health care soon…..free if necessary.  Based upon the newest unemployment numbers, 9.7% in March, we aren’t going to be making enough money to pay down this debt any time soon.

309 million people.  151 million send in federal tax returns and only 80 million of them actually pay taxes.  25.8% of Americans are supporting all of America.

I repeat….if you are paying taxes….you are part of the 25% of the Americans paying to support all of America.

So here is the question.  If 75% of Americans are NOT paying taxes, do they really care about waste, fraud, abuse or the value of services our government provides?  I say no, the majority doesn’t care, and as time passes we remove every incentive to go out and engage.

“At some point people become less and less invested in making sure their government is accountable and frugal,” says Peter Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union, a lower-tax advocacy group. “If you pay very little for getting all kinds of government benefits, you might view those programs as a bargain, even though they may waste tens of billions of dollars a year.”

So what exactly does this mean?  If you are one of the people actually paying taxes…well, it goes like this….

Let’s say it costs $2.50 to buy ingredients, produce, ship and sell a beer at a reasonable profit at your corner bar.  You go in to buy a beer and are charged $10.  There are 3 other people drinking a beer.  None of them paid for their beer.  You did.  They are enjoying their free beers, and will continue to do so until it is no longer served for free.  They don’t care how much it costs and won’t until it is rationed….then all hell will break loose.  Food for thought.

My friends and I are trying to figure out why we work.  We will always be out voted by the 3 people receiving free beer.  We want to live on ships and travel the world.  Why are we working 50-70 hours a week to buy beer for 3 other people.   This is what Joe-the-plumber was asking Senator Obama during the presidential campaign.  I don’t think we understood the implications of his answer when he said he intended to “redistribute the wealth”.

Can I buy you a beer?

annie presley
annie@mckellarconsulting.com

(The opinions of all Independent Insider blogsters do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers, staff and advertisers of The Independent or the Independent Insider. They are solely the views of the individual contributors.)

So it sounds like President Obama is trying again on the healthcare legislation.  Despite the glaring fact the the majority of Americans don’t seem to want it, he is meeting quietly with Democrats and publicly with Republicans to move it forward.  It was clear that most of America did not appreciate the proposed changes and certainly did not want to pay for them.  Especially with the way some groups were getting their own special deals.  When Scott Brown won the US Senate race in Massachusetts, he essentially rang the death bell for Universal Health Care legislation.

So now The President is crafting a new plan with Democrats in a series of private meetings, and with Republicans in highly publicized meetings.  This way he can say that the Republicans had opportunities for input in the final plan.  My guess is that this is just another opportunity to blame the Republicans for all the ideas they don’t end up using anyway.  Already I’ve heard the president say the the Republicans ideas are just too expensive.  But how he knows that already I don’t comprehend.

Well here is MY idea:

The President’s Health Care Plan that he and the Democrats are rewriting in some new secret location should be revealed WITH a price tag.  And it should be agreed that all parties will use it themselves.  It will be used by the President, his family, all members of Congress, their families, the Supreme Court Justices, their families, and all members of all Unions.  Let’s level the playing field shall we?  If it’s such a great plan, then let’s all use it!  They need to show all the cards.  No more special deals.  No more favorite plays…..no more phony baloney.  You understand that the above mentioned groups have very special insurance that will not be touched by this legislation…..FAR better than any thing else under the sun and well subsidized by you the taxpayers.

So let’s just do this by the book.  If there is a one-payer system (that’s the government, you the taxpayer) then why don’t we all get the same benefits?  Who’s to say that some groups get better benefits?   Well, let’s just get this straight, if this plan is so fantastic, sign up Mr. President….if it’s so great Harry Reid….if it’s so great Nancy Pelosi….sign up!  Take the pledge.  America is tired of your histronics, back door deals, finger pointing, whining and false promises.

If you will use it….so will I.  Prove it or lose it.  If you won’t, then i don’t want to pay for it.  That’s fair isn’t it???

Oh and by the way….get a real accountant who can show us how we can pay for it.  That little sticky wicket still needs to be tidied up.  It doesn’t appear that we can afford it….and until you can prove that we can, Americans still aren’t going to buy your rhetoric.

PS:  Could we get a White House report on the Healthcare Waste and Fraud Clean-Up that is going to pay for most of the new legislation?  Systemic clean-up was supposed to start last year.  Would love to hear how that’s going……

annie presley
annie@mckellarconsulting.com

(The opinions of all Independent Insider blogsters do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers, staff and advertisers of The Independent or the Independent Insider. They are solely the views of the individual contributors.)