SHAMEFUL

With so many individuals and families having such a difficult time right now, it’s hard to believe the amount of money our Congress is willing to spend to get reelected.   I know this first hand.  Our oldest son has been out of work for fourteen (14) months now.  He was in commercial real estate in Atlanta and I can tell you first hand–it is tough.  The company he worked for had an office in Atlanta.  They pulled out of the market when things got really tight and business dropped to virtually nothing.  He has a wife and three children and they all feel the pinch. 

In reading an article written by Brian M. Riedl, let’s review some of the “must-have” items Congress is willing to spend OUR money for.

• Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal property.
• Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million on rearranging desks and offices in it’s Washington headquarters.
• The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs the government $146 million annually in flight upgrades.
• The federal government owns more that 50,000 vacant houses.
• Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supplying their offices with DVD recorders, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, popcorn machines, plasma televisions and signature signing machines.  Also, $24,730 leasing one Lexus, $1,434 for a digital camera and ( are  you ready for this one ) $84,000 on personal calendars.
• $200,000 for tatoo removal in Mission Hills, California.
• $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.
• $75,000 for the Totally Teen  Zone in Albany, Georgia.
• Taxpayers are funding the costs of painting for high-ranking government officials at an average costs of $50,000 each.

In addition:

• Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare.
•  The Fed made $72 billion in payment errors in 2008–with pending corrections.
• Federal auditors spent the last five years to find out that 22 percent of  the ongoing programs have absolutely no benefit to those they were designed to help.
• The debt-ridden Post Office spent ( last year ) $13,500 on ONE dinner at Ruth’s Chris Stakehouse, including over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 on alcohol.  Eighty-on guests consumed an average of $187.00 of food each.

Is is not time “WE THE PEOPLE” demand better oversight.  Is it not time we have a “come to Jesus” meeting with these slugs, throw them all out and start over?  Could anyone do any worse than the bunch of criminals we have running the show right now.  Is it really too much to ask that, with a great many people suffering,   Congress act responsibly, do the adult thing, demand a reversal in the course and turn this around for the betterment of all.  How much longer should the average voter, tax payer, etc etc have to wait for some reform to the ridiculous spending habits of our “law makers”?