dtucker300 wrote:
Hi Jedi;
First of all, the government is bloated and so is its' budget. It all needs to be reined in. A few billion won't go very far toward eliminating a deficit of over 20 Trillion dollars.
Second of all, most of the budget is already paid for by the top 20% of earners with the top 1% giving the lion's share.
Now that is a curious word -- earners. People should be allowed to keep what they earn, don't you agree? Listening to Warren and Sanders and they would have you believe they know how to spend money better than the people who earned it. This country operated in the 19th century just fine without an income tax. When it was implemented it was supposed to only be 1%. But the progressives, democrats, and RINOs have never met a tax they didn't like. After all, it 's OPM (Other Peoples Money), not their own. They are great at spending OPM! They just don't know how to spend it wisely. They didn't have to earn it and they don't want to give up their own money quite so easily, just as they don't want to send their own sons and daughters to war. Let the other saps do that.
Howard Hughes established the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to avoid giving more money to the government in taxes. Today HHMI is one of the leading cutting edge research organizations in the world and it employs hundreds of researchers who are paid from the endowment, Hughes' legacy, not the government. How well do you think the government would have spent their money if they had gotten their hands on it. The same is true of Bill Gates, Dale Carnegie, and so many others. Their philanthropic works live on giving more real value to the economy than the government does. Wealth doesn't come from the government. The government is a vast black hole where money disappears.
How much is Bernie Sanders worth from a lifetime of marrying into money, serving in elected office, and working for a real living? He hasn't made or produced a single thing of value to the economic well-being of this country. I would question how and why so many politicians enter politics and come into office being poor and leave rich? What has Joe Biden produced of value to the economy? His son Hunter? The Clintons?
True, many are already rich when they come to elected office. Harry Truman was one of the few Presidents to leave office no richer than when he entered. On the other hand, AOC will probably be a one-term Congressperson and yet she will receive health care and a generous pension for the remainder of her life. Michelle Obama's mother receives a generous pension for being a babysitter to Sasha and Melia in the White House. She receives a pension that would make most people envious, particularly for having only worked eight years in that capacity.
I had to earn every cent I have, starting with nothing, saving and scrimping along the way, to have money to invest so that I would not be a burden on family or state. Living in CA as I do, this socialist state keeps dreaming up more ways to get their hands on my assets to redistribute to those who didn't earn it. This same problem exists at state, county, and local levels of government. But that is a topic for another day; Government pensions!
Hi Jedi; br br First of all, the government is bl... (
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“No One is Above the Law” – Including Congress
Posted Monday, December 2, 2019 | By Robert B. Charles |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Impeachment leader Adam Schiff (D-VA) spent November repeating a time-tested line: “No one is above the law.” This weekend, Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell trumpeted it. Next week, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) will. The line raises problems, little discussed.
First, the American people are not stupid. They know laws apply equally to all Americans. They did not need Mr. Schiff – in self-righteous, nauseating, hardly impartial hearings – repeating the mantra. Repeating it did little good, since polls show more Americans now disfavor impeachment than before his hearings.
The bigger point: Hypocrisy is thicker in DC than snow in The Rockies. If any part of the US Government places itself “above the law,” it is Congress. Let’s be specific.
Despite “due process” guarantees in our Constitution, House Democrats cheerfully ran roughshod over the rules of civil procedure, legal precedents, House rules and “Robert’s Rules” during Intelligence and Judiciary Committee hearings. To be clear: These were lawyers; they knew what they were doing.
Points of order, clarifications, and honest questions from Republicans were hammered down; witnesses answering questions posed by Republicans were cut off. Material witnesses asked by Republicans, which could have ended impeachment, were disallowed.
“Fair and impartial” requirements for grand jurors – as Mr. Schiff styled himself – were tossed out. Instead, dark Star Chamber justice returned. Guilt was found in private, witnesses selected that might support the finding, and a crass political case pressed. Truly, these members feel one thing: They are above the law.
Only, it gets worse. The line – “no one is above the law” – is worth a closer look. Here are facts Congress does not want you to know. Congress regularly puts itself “above the law.” Examples make a compelling case.
Recently, Americans learned their tax dollars were secretly used by Congress to settle sexual harassment claims against offending members. What? Yes, big settlements, all private. Is that what Americans get to do – use someone else’s money to settle claims for their bad acts? Did Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schiff not know about that? Does that not qualify as “above the law?”
Then American tax dollars finance dozens of international junkets by members, luxury trips around the world – all conveniently returning at night, so no one sees the members’ largess on return. Full cost is never revealed, but trips use high-cost military aircraft, decked out with tailored seating, food, drinks and communications.
“Congressional Delegation” or “CODEL” trips hopscotch fancy hotels, enjoying well-stocked “control rooms,” adult beverages, a healthy “per diem” for each member – your tax dollars at work. Some trips run north of $100,000. Did someone not tell you about those? Without public accounting, is that not “above the law?”
How about health care? Congress not only has private medical care – from travel inoculations to flu shots – in the Capitol’s basement. They get special deals. As described in the Washington Examiner, September 2017, Congress enjoys “several types of special treatment unavailable to the public” on health care. They are eligible for a small-business exchange, despite federal and DC laws prohibiting it.
More, they are “the only large employer in the country that can make tax-free contributions toward its employees’ exchange-plan premiums,” in conflict with federal laws. And Congress is “the only group of federal workers who receive Federal Employee Health Benefit (FEHB) premium contributions for non-FEHB coverage.” Wouldn’t you say that’s placing oneself “above the law?”
Congress is “above the law” in even bigger ways. Here are some. Despite all the hoopla about that “whistleblower” – who apparently consulted with House Democrats – Congress exempts themselves from that same “Whistleblower Protection Act in 1989.” The act aims to reduce “waste, mismanagement or lawbreaking” for taxpayers – only it does not apply to Congress. Isn’t that “above the law?”
Or consider the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA), which empowers the US Labor Department to investigate health and safety violations – except in Congress. OSHA can even subpoena records from anyone, except Congress. Good luck in health and safety there.
Congress exempted itself from record keeping on workplace discrimination. Accordingly, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws force private employers and executive branch to “retain personnel records,” but not Congress.
Or how about this one – if a private-sector employer “retaliates” against an employee for reporting “health or safety hazards,” Laborer can sue the employer, no cost to the employee. Meantime, Congress forces an employee who wants to sue Congress – to foot the bill. That discourages suits, don’t you think? Clever – and above the law.
Congress also exempts itself from posting “notices on worker rights,” federally required for the private sector. And Congress need not comply with the No Fear Act, which trains executive branch employees on rights; Congress exempted itself.
In one offensive exemption, Congress escapes compliance with the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA. FOIA requests might be very helpful right now, but no. Congress is not compelled to be transparent under FOIA; they put themselves outside FOIA’s reach. The same is true for the Privacy Act; it bars release of private material by federal agencies, but not Congress. That helps Congress leak with greater impunity.
The list is long – and deserves bright light, especially now. The House is hardly being transparent. The point is simple. The next time Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Schiff, Chairman Nadler and House Democrats wax on about transparency, using that “no one is above the law” line, someone should ask: Does that include Congress?
Bottom line on the law: No institution in the US Government more unapologetically tramples “equality before the law” – than rule-busting, law-exempting, globetrotting congressional leaders. Not all subscribe to this dodge, but those in control for years – like Speaker Nancy Pelosi – know the secrets. It is time the American people did. As this Speaker is fond of saying, “no one is above the law.” That should include Congress.