Go Ahead, You're Entitled

So the other day I got into a rather bitter exchange with a social network “friend” regarding excessive government spending. It started innocently enough. She posted that she had woken to the sound of workmen installing a new water heater at her home. I made a lame attempt at an Eagles parody: The last worthless water heater that she’d have to buy. She then volunteered that she hadn’t had to buy it at all, that there had been some monies set aside in California for energy conservation upgrades and that in addition to the installation of the water heater the workmen were re-insulating her attic and weather stripping her doors and windows as well. I sat there for a moment with question marks popping up all over my face like hives thinking about how California has a $26 Billion with a B budget deficit, and I should have placed a 9 volt battery on my tongue until the urge to respond passed, but there wasn’t one handy and so I commented that the monies were likely “set aside” from businesses that were leaving California for Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada because they could no longer afford to pay taxes and fees for such things. This was a mistake.

She’d been all warm and fuzzy about her good fortune and I was raining on her parade. I tried to point out that I hadn’t meant anything personal by my comment and that I would also have a difficult time turning down “free” improvements to my house were they made available. I mentioned that it was, in my opinion, a societal failure and not a personal one. She was not appeased.

Her profanity laced tirade continued, at least I think there was profanity. There were a lot of asterisks flying about so it was hard to say for sure. At one point I was referred to as a conspiracy theorist and then was told that California hadn’t had anything to do with it anyway, that it had been part of the “stimulus package”. “Ah, yes” I said. That $847 Billion give away that friends of the president elect had written during the transition and then shoved through the congress immediately after the inauguration before anyone could look at it. This was not received well either.

Soon angry looking “likes” started to accumulate after her comments and I became afraid of a gang action and so again I tried to reassure her that I hadn’t meant to attack her personally and was told that there was a time and place for everything and that my comments met neither requirement. I responded that it was, after all a social networking site, and pointed out that there was really no other place for me to broach the subject. Also that time means little on the internet. Generally there’s some time between interactions. She seemed to calm down a little.

Subsequent discussion revealed that she’d had a hard week and when this opportunity presented itself to her it was soothing. It felt as if something good was happening for her. I can relate totally, or totally relate. Whichever. She’s really quite a wonderful woman, generally funny and charming. She supports herself working as an actor and supplements that income with writing and e-marketing. She’s managed to make a nice, but not extravagant life for herself. She works hard, as she told me, pays her taxes, and she felt entitled. And there’s the rub.

We ALL work hard. Well, most of us work hard anyway, and we all pay our taxes and so we ALL must be entitled. The problem is that it’s all a scam. We’ve all been promised much more than there is. We pay our taxes and then think we’re entitled to take that money back out, but the money isn’t there. They spent that money years ago. In most cases they spent it years before they even had it, or used it as leverage to borrow money from this program or that and then spent it. They had our cake and they ate it too.

The numbers are almost too scary to look at, and so large as to defy understanding. Our unfunded liabilities now are well over $113 Trillion. Those are promises to pay that the congress has made in our names. Over $1 Million for each tax payer. This is a separate issue from the $14 Trillion that we’ve already borrowed. These unfunded liabilities are moneys that the congress has promised that we will borrow in the future. And still they tell us that we’re entitled, that EVERYONE is entitled.

Who ARE these people and why on earth have we let them deceive us for so long? Maybe we just had a bad half century and needed to feel like something good was happening.

But that's just what an average guy thinks.

First We Have To Fix This

Okay. I think I’m starting to see a pattern here. Stop me if I get off track. Here’s how I think this has gone: Obama’s inaugurated and his chief of staff Rham Emanuel says to him “Mr. President” he says “You never want to let a good crisis go to waste”, to which the President says “I’m not following you here Rham.”. Emanuel then explains that whenever there’s a crisis the people will rally around the leader, or at least give him the benefit of the doubt regardless of the merits of the plan. The President says “Really?” “You know, I hadn’t thought of that,” “but it might work”. To which Emanuel responded “You fucking - A – right it’ll work.” “Look here I’ve got this bill already drafted.” “Had the unions and Van Jones working on it since the election”. Then he signals an aide who leaves the room momentarily and comes back in with another young man and they deposit an 1100 page document on the table and then withdraw without saying anything. “You’ve been working on this since November?” the President asks. “Damned straight” Emanuel replies. “The way I have it figured we have until the mid terms in 2010 to ram stuff through, and we may as well get started”. “Stimulus package eh?” Obama mutters. “Yes...... this could work”. “What’s in it?” The President asks. “How the hell should I know” Emanuel snorts. “It’s 1100 pages. Who cares? It doesn’t matter”. “There’s lots of good stuff in there for us.... expansion of power.... bypass the Congress.... there’s a shitload of payback for the unions..... ACORN.... and plenty of loose cash for the Congress to spread around to soften the blow in the mid term.” “What we have to do is start screaming “FIRE” just as loud as we can”........ And that’s what they did. They came out and said “You know, we really want to fix the economy, but first we need to do this” and then they started screaming NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW. We have to have it NOW. Republicans tried to protest. NOW NOW NOW....... but what’s in it? NOW NOW NOW.... but it costss 750 Billion dollars! NOW NOW NOW.... but where’s all this money going? NOW NOW NOW..... IF WE DON’T PASS THIS NOW EMPLOYMENT WILL GO ABOVE 8%. WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS NOW. And have it they did. The vote was called for less than 24 hours after the bill was made available to members of Congress with ZERO chance that any of them would know what was in it. Then they did the same thing with health care. House passes a bill with a lot of YES votes thinking “There is NO way this gets through the Senate so it doesn’t matter if I vote yes or not”. Another 1100 page monster that no one knew much about. They tried to get it through the Senate before the summer recess. NOW NOW NOW but they just couldn’t do it. And then people got a look at it and the shit hit the fan. We were treated to 4 months of wheeling, dealing and the dirtiest politics this country has seen. We were also treated to the sights and sounds of a genuine American uprising. I’m guessing that a bunch of Senators voted yes thinking “this ain’t EVER mak’in it out of conference so I can vote for it knowing it’ll never pass, and won’t have to make any waves”. But then Nancy Pelosi did something unparalleled. She managed to convince the House of Representatives to swallow the Senate bill whole. Once that was done they could turn to the economy right? Wrong. Truth is they can’t fix the economy and they know it. So NOW they’re saying “Look, we want to focus on fixing the economy and jobs, but we can’t do that until we fix the financial markets”. And wouldn’t you know that they have another 1000 page bill that no one can read or understand all written and ready to go and they have Obama out there on the stump screaming NOW NOW NOW. They’re going to try to keep this up all the way to January when the new Congress is sworn in. Ladies and Gentlemen hang onto your hats. We’re about ready to see how much damage a progressive President and a compliant democrat Congress can do to a great nation in two short years.

But that's just what an average guy thinks.