Senators and Congressmen like to speak about how their salaries have been frozen at $174,000.00 a year for four years. When they tell the public that they do not tell us that they are amongst the fastest growing people in America when it comes to wealth accumulation.
When they mention their base pay they do not speak of the amounts they get in healthcare,pensions,compensation for travel expenses, housing allowances,their food allowances or entertainment costs.
They do not speak of the income they derive from insider trading on the stock market or what they gain in gifts from lobbyist. The Republicans voted not once but twice during the Bush years to allow for and to extend the gifts given to them by lobbyists.
While the middle class wages have remained stagnant or have flat lined over the past 20 years or so, the income of the Congress and Senate has grown at 150 times greater the rate of the normal American middle class citizen. The government that they are fighting to do away with has made them all wealthy.
The typical Congressman who comes into Congress with modest means, and stays for 10 to 15 years will be making on the average of $850,000.00 a year by the time they leave, once all their compensations, gifts,investments gained through the insider trading, and benefits are added up. They are amongst the largest group of those who receive entitlements in our Nation. They will leave with 5 to 6 million dollars on the average.
There perhaps are many reasons, not a few being their own wallets, as to why the Republicans refuse to lift the Bush Tax cuts that are draining our treasury and building our deficit to the point that it is bankrupting our government, of the people, for the people, and by the people. Both Parties are guilty of getting wealthy off of the middle class but only the Democrats, are fighting to save the middle class as we know it. Our government and “We the People” pay them very well.
Mitt Romney said.”He does not care about the poor who are protected by a safety net just those who fall between the holes.” How many of us think that Mitt even knows that the safety net is so pathetic that a child dies in the United States every 5 minutes due to starvation related diseases?
This is Republican speak for the constant words spoken in regards to the “haves” supporting the “have nots.” They either truly believe that the poor do not work and are dependent on the wealthy for welfare or it is politically popular to show disdain towards the poor in the current climate of “me first and only,” as represented by the Tea Party mentality. Could he be so out of touch that he truly believes the food on their table is so well provided for by the wealthy, that the safety net includes a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs,and that food stamps pay for the needs of the poor?
We can only hope that the man who believes he can represent the middle class is not that out of touch but instead, it was said to please the Tea Party as it has become so popular this year, because it plays well with the Tea Party who also believes this garbage.
If not, then it only reiterates what we all know about Mitt, and that is he does not have a clue that many of the middle class that he professes to want to help are these same poor that he says he is not concerned about.
It is not the truth and has never been the truth that the tax dollars of the “haves” pay for the “have nots” and provide them with a safety net. The truth is when the middle class and the poor do fall on hard times, because their wages keep getting cut by Corporations or they get laid off, it is the government in government subsidies that help feed the poor while the Churches or the schools, in most of the cases, distribute it free.
This has been paid for by the working poor and middle class from their taxes, while they were employed ,and it continues being paid for by the working poor and the middle class, who pay for the large percentage of the government subsidies and certainly not the wealthy. It simply is more of the bigotry that we are hearing in the Republican Party.
The wealthy do not support anyone, as they have lawyers and lobbyist that make certain that they do not pay their fair share in taxes. They have loopholes given to them by the Bush tax cuts and found for them by their lawyers, that gets them out of paying taxes that do not exist for the rest of us.
The average middle class and working poor Americans, who have raised their families, and own their home can deduct their house mortgage, a small percentage for charity,and that is all, providing they do not travel for a living. Those who do have children can deduct their children and day care. If we rent we have even less tax cuts. The wealthy have pages after pages of tax loop holes that do not exist for the rest of us, because they were not granted in the Bush tax cuts. In some cases, they pay no taxes at all. It is so common that none of us should be surprised to find that would be true if Mitt Romney was made to release his taxes back the 12 years that President Barack OBama has.
It is the working poor and the middle class who support the wealthys’ entitlements, with their loop holes and tax breaks and Corporate welfare, and yet they refuse to let go of the bigotry that they spread against the poor. Newt Gingrich is in an uproar over Mitt’s statement even though, Newt said, “The children of the poor should be taken away from their parents and placed into orphanages,” when he served in the House.
The fact that Mitt Romney has placed his wealth over seas in the Cayman Islands, and in the past in Swiss banks, and speaks in such a callous regard about the poor, who he really thinks that the wealthy are supporting, is the best indicator we all have that he will do nothing towards lifting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and it will be business as usual in the Republican Party, if he is elected.
Although the Republican candidates made their multi-millions outside of government, with the exception of Santorum and Newt, we can bet they will add to it and protect it over their claimed desire to find jobs for the middle class and working poor if elected. It is amazing just how many free entitlements the wealthy politicians feel they deserve for free, while they call the Social Security and Medicare that we paid for since the 1950′s out of each pay check we earned,at a much higher rate, than we are today, entitlements.
We can no longer afford to make politicians wealthy when they are looking out for their own best interests over our own and while bankrupting the government that employs them. It is time to throw them out and let them live a comfortable life, as Mitt has been doing for 10 years, off the interests their multi-millions make.
In passing, do we think Rick Santorum will show his taxes for 12 years? When people find out that he gained his millions off of government employ and as a lobbyist won’t that fly in the face of the idea he likes to project, and that is, he is just a regular “Joe”? Seems to me, if he does his own taxes and they are on his computer, all he has to do is load the printing carrier with paper, and press the print button.
Have a good day all and if it sucks instead, then take out time to smile at someone who has had a worse day than you have, or hug your kids, pet, or loved ones. It’s amazing the difference a smile and/ or a hug can make towards lifting our spirits. If that doesn’t work then have a dish of ice cream. It is o.k. as long as we do not make a continued habit of it.
