Politicians
announce for
presidential run for
myriad reasons: Ego being
the most powerful, followed by
a thirst for power.
Few want to
work for
change.

Change
can’t come
if people won’t
stand up and proclaim
with righteous indignation that change
must come in order
for system to
benefit the
masses.

Special
interests run
this country, just
ask any honest politician.
Oh, never mind, those critters
are endangered. Time for
people to take
back their
country.

Taste the fine wine of life

Time
bottled up
is not time
wasted, but time contained.
Open the bottle, let it
breathe. Taste the fine
wine of a
good life
lived.

Budget issue not that big of a deal

Balancing the federal budget is no big deal. Seriously. If the Demogogues and Republicrats could get past their party label and egos and start working together to run the country as a business, then it, really, no big deal to balance the budget.

Here, from the consonants and vowels of one versed in small business operation and global business finances, are the steps the president and Congress should do to accomplish that in short order.

1) Start with the assumption that the federal budget must be cut by 10 percent. Period.
2) Have every department and agency head prepare a new budget showing those cuts …without cutting a single federal employee that has face-to-face interaction with the public. The only exception would be the Department of Education, and that with this caveat: Quit throwing money away on sunshiny programs and get the nation’s schools back to the basics of formative education. You know, reading, writing, etc.
3) Mandate a 10 percent cut in the number of federal workers, which equates to about 96,000. That would save more than $5.7 billion annually. Exception: See No. 2. These cuts would be to patronage jobs in mid-management and phony-baloney job titles like “under-assistant to the assistant to the director.”
4) Gather those new budgets and hmmmmm over them a while, saying, “This looks good.” Then hand them back with a smile and say, “Now, cut 5-10 percent more.”
5) Curtail every single federal aid program until the needs of our own people are met. Period.
6) Declare a two-year moratorium on every single local project. The new rule is: If it is needed locally, then local people can pay for it. (Think about it: Why should people in Arkansas help pay for a subway system in Boston? Or a levee in New Orleans?) Excluded would be emergency situations involving natural disasters or major events (water shortage) that could affect human life.
7) Declare the welfare system a disaster and disgrace. Form a bare-bones agency modeled after the Depression Era Civilian Conservation Corps. It’s work for welfare or do without. Exceptions are those who are physically unable to work or handicapped. (Obese and lazy are not exceptions.)
8) Get our troops out of Iraq by Thursday. Get our troops out of Afghanistan by next week. Exception: There is no exception. The allied troops can stay in those two nitflicked countries for a week or 50 years and when we do pull out, it’s going to Allah in a hand basket. It’s called historical precedence. Get out now and don’t look back. The Middle Eastern warfront is like Vietnam, only sandy.
9) Make a law that mandates elected officials receive exactly the same benefits as the unwashed masses … no more, no less. That means every person with a first name of Sen. or Rep. goes on Social Security and Medicare. (That solves the endless chaotic chatter about the sky-is-falling Social Security program.)
10) Flat tax. Everybody who makes over $25,000 a year pays. No exceptions.
11) Get rid of the tax code. Straight-line reporting: Income x % = tax owed. Exemptions: Child and other current house residents, and state and local taxes can be deducted.
12) Term limits. With term limits, federal office holders don’t have to worry so much about pleasing corporations and individuals with deep pockets.

‘Nuff said.