“The fact is the system is rigged,” Tom Brokaw said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Washington DC does not work for most of the citizens of the United States. The media outlets are also working against the majority. Lobbyists are controlling the legislation, while the media perpetuates and echos spins from the politicians. Nobody is actually working.
Boehner is claiming the Senate must do something – despite all legislation needing to start in the House. The Senate leaders supposedly talked – but nothing came of it (it wasn’t supposed to happen anyway). The President went onto a Sunday talk show and blamed the GOP. The GOP leaders ran to microphones and blamed Obama.
It’s all a sad game.
How do we know? President Obama signed an executive order increasing the pay of Congress on Thursday. The 0.5 percent increase is to happen in March. As budget negotiations are happening – and supposedly paramount – a sleight of hand happened. The President gave away money to a dysfunctional group of nincompoops.
Now some may argue that Congress hasn’t seen a pay increase since 2009. Well, neither has most of the workers in this country. Why now? Why push through an increase in spending while the government is supposedly on the brink of a fiscal cliff?
The answer is simple. We are not on the brink.
The raise is further evidence that Washington DC insiders are all about themselves. The rest of us be damned. The raise reminds me of Mr. Obama looking into the cameras and telling people he was going to “get those fat cat bankers.” Hours later the Treasury Department made it clear that it had no plans to follow in the footsteps of Britain and France and impose a one-off 2009 tax on bankers’ bonuses. The bankers were let off the hook.
Even more evidence has come over the last few days – as members of Congress and the President supposedly rushed back to Washington DC to negotiate.
What are they negotiating? Nothing.
It was decided over 18 months ago that federal spending would be cut and taxes would be raised. This was the bipartisan deal made 18 months ago. Now these so called civil servants want to change the deal.
Ben Bernanke coined the term that the deal was a “fiscal cliff.” The CBO suggested in reports that the events would cause our economy to go into the another recession. The media has gone wild with sensational hype.
I submit – watch your wallet. Both parties, in with the rich, are about ready to pick your pocket again. It happened in 2008 with bankers being given raises as they were collapsing the economy. The payoff was government protection.
Expect the same to happen soon – probably as soon as the 11 pm EST hits on December 31. Suddenly there will a new deal. And the capital gains set to go up 5% will not increase. The estate taxes will not increase. Also – expect the cuts to the military not to happen. Expect cuts to federal departments not to happen either (cuts in Washington lingo are actually a decrease in increases).
Expect to be given a bone as the wealthy walk away happy – again. What is the bone? Oh – you get to keep your paltry tax cuts – despite hidden tax increases which will happen in other areas. Expect politicians to claim this was all done in the name of compromise.
Blah blah blah. But be careful because Mr. Obama just signed a five-year extension of the FISA Warrantless Wiretapping Program into law. All while you weren’t watching.