This past week, as I have done for the last 40 years, I watched all the political Sunday morning shows on television. As a matter of routine, I find these morning commentaries on the local TV channels i.e. ABC’s This Week; NBC’s Meet The Press, CBS’s Face the Nation and CNN etc. very interesting due to the fact, that they offer many different points of view on the state of our nation. So, when it pertains to current events and the pressing issues of the day, I consider myself fairly informed. A big issue that I often hear is the countless programs created and available for those who do not work and who look to the government for assistance often times, at the expense of working Americans and senior citizens.
I have a simple solution for those who still think that this country can do for them what they can do for themselves and that is to “WORK” and become self-sufficient. I am sick and tired of people finding excuses for everything that is wrong in their lives and then looking to the government for a handout. As Ronald Reagan said many years ago said,
“. Government is not the solution, government is the problem.”
Some years in one of the local newspapers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the question of “what was one’s political affiliation and how one's belief system was formed” was asked. I was one of many who offered an answer to the question. In the most concise way, this is what I said then,
“I have come a long way since the days when I lived
In Italy under the cloud of a 12-party system with
Communism and socialism on one side and the Social
Democrats on the other. Today, I define myself a
Conservative republican in the mold of Barry Goldwater
and Ronald Reagan. My political philosophy is one in
which the individual can exert the maximum amount of
freedom within the legal confines of the law. I became a
Republican because I recognized that of the two major
Political parties, the republicans offered the best hope
for the future of this country and the future of
mankind on earth. Less government is better
than more government because what has made America
great for over two centuries is personal initiative and
motivation--to do for oneself what the government cannot
do for you.”
I am by far, the best example for this kind of reasoning: Forty-five years ago, immediately after graduating high school, it was my intention to attend Drexel University to become an architect, a love that I had nurtured when I attended my first university in my native Sicily. I happily took the college boards and was later shocked (not really) to discover that I did not receive the appropriate college boards score to enter full-time college. I was denied entrance to Drexel University due to my lack of language skills. I had been in the United States for only 5 years so I was still struggling speaking and understanding the English language. So, what did I do? Did I get mad at the system because I was unable to pursue my dream? Did I demand a retest in my native Italian language? No, I did none of those things instead, I went back to work in the same grocery store that I had worked during my high school days when I had saved $3000 in the 4-years of high school. A few years later, I used the same $3000 to purchase a business and worked in that business for 18 years making a very good living for my family that also included my aging parents.
I successfully retired from my business at age 38 because among other things, I had exhausted the satisfaction level my current job was giving me. More importantly, I had never lost my desire to get that elusive college degree. In fact, even while in business, I attended night classes at St. Joseph University during the 1970's. And so at the ripe old age of 38, I enrolled in college full-time hoping to attain my dream. Finally, in 1991, I received my Bachelors Degree in Economics and Business Administration. Two years later, I received my Masters in Philosophy (my first love) from West Chester University. At last, I had achieved my American dream, an education and a working career. I had achieved what I believed at the time, was and still is the pinnacle of my life. I did enjoy my lucrative business for 18 years but it was the elusive degree that I always aimed for and finally achieved due to my persistence and years of hard work.
Since my early retirement and in the intermittent time, I have had more than a few different temporary and part–time jobs i.e. Day-Trader, US Customs Inspector, Lab Technician, volunteering, mentoring, teaching my Italian language and my favorite past time, Bridge etc. But one thing, I will say, if anyone wants to make it in America, the answer is a simple one, "WORK!” give to the country that has given you so much. If one door closes, open another. Do not look to the government and yell, "unfair"; I do not speak the language. Don’t expect the rules to change for one’s accommodation. A person’s dream should not be handed to anyone it should be earned.
And if this boy from poverty-ridden Sicily can do it, so can anyone who is fortunate enough to be born and raised in America because all of us are living in the best country on the face of the earth--the United States of America; the country my father called, “The Land of Opportunity.”
Monday, July 11, 2011
A NEW "VIABLE" POLITICAL PARTY NEEDED FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
As we approach yet another presidential elections in 2012, I believe the time is ripe for a viable third political party in these United States to balance the political power in this country that under the current two-party system has been relegated to special interests and big business.
In the current political environment both republicans and democrats are daily being bought and sold by the Washington?s elite political organizations. Our government by the people and for the people has become an Oligarchy; a monumental political enterprise that works solely for large corporations and the special interest groups that in every election spend billions of dollars to elect their candidate.
It is a government where the people who carry the burden of taxation have no real say in the decision making process or the national policy of this country. Today, as we look forward to the 2012 presidential elections, we see a country divided, a political landscape ripe for an inclusive and viable third political party. A new party that serves the needs of the large Middle Class, the taxpayers that in recent years have been ignored by both, the democrats and the republicans.
For that to happen, the American people must support historic changes in the structure of the current system. We can no longer exclude independent candidates from debates. Political contributions must be regulated so that every candidate has a fair chance of being nominated. Independent candidates must have the same status that is currently reserved for the two front-runners of the two major political parties.
Yes, just as others have done in past presidential elections, today independent candidates have no chance of being nominated let alone elected. For 200 years, this nation has survived under the banner of the two party system. Today, America needs an established independent party to offset the concentrated power that under the two-party system is stifling the economic growth of this country. It is time for inclusion, we have had enough of the two-party system that today resemble, two-sides of the same coin. Our political system in Washington needs fresh blood because the current environment at the national and state level has become anemic at best.
The time is now to end the stronghold of presidential politics.
In the current political environment both republicans and democrats are daily being bought and sold by the Washington?s elite political organizations. Our government by the people and for the people has become an Oligarchy; a monumental political enterprise that works solely for large corporations and the special interest groups that in every election spend billions of dollars to elect their candidate.
It is a government where the people who carry the burden of taxation have no real say in the decision making process or the national policy of this country. Today, as we look forward to the 2012 presidential elections, we see a country divided, a political landscape ripe for an inclusive and viable third political party. A new party that serves the needs of the large Middle Class, the taxpayers that in recent years have been ignored by both, the democrats and the republicans.
For that to happen, the American people must support historic changes in the structure of the current system. We can no longer exclude independent candidates from debates. Political contributions must be regulated so that every candidate has a fair chance of being nominated. Independent candidates must have the same status that is currently reserved for the two front-runners of the two major political parties.
Yes, just as others have done in past presidential elections, today independent candidates have no chance of being nominated let alone elected. For 200 years, this nation has survived under the banner of the two party system. Today, America needs an established independent party to offset the concentrated power that under the two-party system is stifling the economic growth of this country. It is time for inclusion, we have had enough of the two-party system that today resemble, two-sides of the same coin. Our political system in Washington needs fresh blood because the current environment at the national and state level has become anemic at best.
The time is now to end the stronghold of presidential politics.
AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.
Politicians and legislators often speak loudly about the large American middle class as being the “Backbone” of this great nation. But, with the ever-increasing costs of home ownership and other fixed goods and services, today the average American family can hardly be called middle class because the line between middle class and surviving is becoming so invisible that it is hard to see the difference. I first heard of the “middle class” concept around fifty years ago when my parents and I immigrated to this country and began our the long-trek journey toward that elusive, but sometimes real goal called, the American dream.
Back in the 1960’s when I first arrived in the states, America was a much different country than it is today. In those days, there really was a middle class when one compared life in these great United States with other European countries such as Italy, my place of birth. There in the old country made up of villages and towns, there were only two classes of people, the rich landowners and the poor who begged and who depended solely on the rich to give them a day’s work at slaves’ wages.
Those were the days when finding a job in one of those villages was almost impossible as there were no large companies to employ people, just local establishments that more often than not, hired family members. When I first set foot on the land of opportunity, it was easy for me and anyone else who had eyes to see, that in America the middle class was not only alive, it was thriving. I especially marveled at the thousands of automobiles that lined the streets of New York City when I landed there on a cold Winter February day in 1961.
I once remember after living in America for about 5 years, my father saying after he received one of his paycheck one Friday evening, “Here in the land of honey…. with one of my weekly salary, my family has enough money to eat, pay the rent and the utilities and still have money left over to go to a restaurant or buy a new pair of shoes. This was not true in Sicily for my father or any other Sicilian where one would be lucky to have enough of a paycheck to buy food for his family let alone pay for anything else.
How things change even here in the blessed land we call, the country of opportunity. Today, America is not the same country of the 1960’s when jobs were aplenty and the economy was the envy of practically the entire free western world. Italy too has changed from the work-starved nation of the past to an economic miracle at par with other European nations.
To complicate matters for us, the United States currently has a debt of more than a trillion of dollars of which more than $500 billion is owed to China alone. Increasingly, the U.S. debt to other nation is increasing at dangerous levels that the question that must be asked is, “Who will own the United States if we continue on this road of spend and spend?” More importantly, the constant printing of money to pay for the ever-increasing debt will surely result in high levels of inflation in the near future endangering the standard of living for future generation of Americans. This is a sad commentary for a country that once was the economic envy of the world. Now, after decades of plenty, my children and grand children will have to owe their American dream to foreign nations while they see their hard-earned dollars go into a bankrupt Social Security system that more likely than not will not be there for them when they reach retirement.
So what is this constant litany we hear from politicians when they speak about the middle class being the backbone of America? There is no more middle class in this country because the same people that once considered themselves middle class Americans are becoming the “working” poor of America especially when one takes in consideration that today to make ends meet families need two wage earners, when in the 1960’s it took only one.
Yes, today the large middle class of the past is fast disappearing and is being replaced by a sub-par class which is not poor by government standards but not far from the poverty line when you take into account the inflated price of homes, apartments, increasing school taxes, utilities, other fixed expenditures and the amenities that in years past we took for granted.
So, just what is this American middle class everybody talks about? From where I am standing, the middle class is on the way of becoming an endangered species and will fast disappear if nothing is done to protect the working public of this country. America must return to the days when the good jobs in manufacturing were here and not sent overseas in droves. Our free market that once made our country economically strong has now gone globally but to the detriment of our own people. Our good jobs have gone to foreign lands and so has our middle class. We will soon become just another nation to fall high from the “might” that once was, the United States of America, the hope of the free world.
Back in the 1960’s when I first arrived in the states, America was a much different country than it is today. In those days, there really was a middle class when one compared life in these great United States with other European countries such as Italy, my place of birth. There in the old country made up of villages and towns, there were only two classes of people, the rich landowners and the poor who begged and who depended solely on the rich to give them a day’s work at slaves’ wages.
Those were the days when finding a job in one of those villages was almost impossible as there were no large companies to employ people, just local establishments that more often than not, hired family members. When I first set foot on the land of opportunity, it was easy for me and anyone else who had eyes to see, that in America the middle class was not only alive, it was thriving. I especially marveled at the thousands of automobiles that lined the streets of New York City when I landed there on a cold Winter February day in 1961.
I once remember after living in America for about 5 years, my father saying after he received one of his paycheck one Friday evening, “Here in the land of honey…. with one of my weekly salary, my family has enough money to eat, pay the rent and the utilities and still have money left over to go to a restaurant or buy a new pair of shoes. This was not true in Sicily for my father or any other Sicilian where one would be lucky to have enough of a paycheck to buy food for his family let alone pay for anything else.
How things change even here in the blessed land we call, the country of opportunity. Today, America is not the same country of the 1960’s when jobs were aplenty and the economy was the envy of practically the entire free western world. Italy too has changed from the work-starved nation of the past to an economic miracle at par with other European nations.
To complicate matters for us, the United States currently has a debt of more than a trillion of dollars of which more than $500 billion is owed to China alone. Increasingly, the U.S. debt to other nation is increasing at dangerous levels that the question that must be asked is, “Who will own the United States if we continue on this road of spend and spend?” More importantly, the constant printing of money to pay for the ever-increasing debt will surely result in high levels of inflation in the near future endangering the standard of living for future generation of Americans. This is a sad commentary for a country that once was the economic envy of the world. Now, after decades of plenty, my children and grand children will have to owe their American dream to foreign nations while they see their hard-earned dollars go into a bankrupt Social Security system that more likely than not will not be there for them when they reach retirement.
So what is this constant litany we hear from politicians when they speak about the middle class being the backbone of America? There is no more middle class in this country because the same people that once considered themselves middle class Americans are becoming the “working” poor of America especially when one takes in consideration that today to make ends meet families need two wage earners, when in the 1960’s it took only one.
Yes, today the large middle class of the past is fast disappearing and is being replaced by a sub-par class which is not poor by government standards but not far from the poverty line when you take into account the inflated price of homes, apartments, increasing school taxes, utilities, other fixed expenditures and the amenities that in years past we took for granted.
So, just what is this American middle class everybody talks about? From where I am standing, the middle class is on the way of becoming an endangered species and will fast disappear if nothing is done to protect the working public of this country. America must return to the days when the good jobs in manufacturing were here and not sent overseas in droves. Our free market that once made our country economically strong has now gone globally but to the detriment of our own people. Our good jobs have gone to foreign lands and so has our middle class. We will soon become just another nation to fall high from the “might” that once was, the United States of America, the hope of the free world.
AMERICAN JOBS ARE BEING TAXED OUT OF THIS COUNTRY
Much has been said in recent years about American jobs going overseas but does anyone realize the reason why we are loosing good jobs to other countries? For a long time, it was thought that besides the lower wages, the reason for the success of overseas' markets was the belief that the products made outside the United States, particularly in Europe and Asia, had a higher quality standard than those products made in the USA.
The perfect example for this kind of belief system was and still remains, the car manufacturers. Japanese cars and other imports would never have had the success that they currently have in the United States had not been for producing a car far better and more reliable than American made cars.
I personally vouch for this kind of mindset because driving American-made cars became for me, a total nightmare. For more than 50 years, I drove American made automobiles and except for my first car that I purchased in 1966 (Chevy Nova) every American-made car that I owned (Cadillac, Buick, Ford Country Squire, Jeep etc.) broke down continually resulting in time and financial losses.
Fifteen year ago, I purchase a Nissan and for the 15 years that I owned the car, the only expense that I had were brakes and oil changes. I finally sold the car in great condition for $1500. You and I would have had a hard time getting the same return with a GM or a Ford automobile in the 1970’s or in the 1980’s. The same is true with appliances and other products. After the warranty is over, everything breaks down. Sometimes, appliances break down even before the warranty expires.
But, fifty years ago this was not true in this country when America-made cars and other products were made to last for the long term. I remember my mother’s refrigerator that she purchased in 1959. That Frigidaire lasted for 20 years in my mother’s house and another 15 years in my own home when it was left to me when my parents retired to Italy. The same cannot be said for today’s appliances when in the past 15 years, I have replaced my refrigerator twice, my dishwasher 3 times and my washing machine twice.
No, today’s products do not equal the excellent quality of years past. Recently, though, I learned that in addition to poor quality, the reason our jobs are going overseas in droves is the rate of corporate taxes applied to corporations here in the United States. American businesses have to pay 35% of their profits in taxes while the same businesses abroad are only paying 16-20%. This is an enormous amount of money that the financial officer of a company cannot ignore. Because, let us face it, the main purpose of a business is to increase profits for their shareholders not to employ workers. In the final analysis, a company executive’s responsibility and loyalty is to the corporation, not to the men and women who work. This is why many American corporations are busy moving their operations overseas, away from the 35% tax nightmare.
Many pharmaceutical companies have moved to Ireland where corporate taxes are only 20%. This is also true in Switzerland where in some places; their business tax structure is around 16% much less than the 35% rate in the US. Today, even Canada is attracting American companies to do business there. So while our deficits keep increasing, foreign countries are reaping the benefits of taxation--payments that should be collected here in this country. According to the latest statistics, it is estimated that the United States is losing more than 40 billions of dollars each and every year that American companies do business outside the United States.
More damaging is the fact that some of these companies (technology in particular) i.e. Cisco and others sincerely want to bring their businesses back to this country but the current tax structure is prohibiting them to do so. Currently, the US has the highest corporate tax in the world. So while people scream about their jobs going overseas, the government does nothing to lower the corporate tax rate of American corporations.
Our government would rather lose the money from these businesses that operate away from the United States and increase the deficit, rather then lowering the tax rate. It does not make sense. If we truly want the jobs to come back to this country, first, we have to start making better quality products and second, we have to pressure our government officials in Washington to lower the corporate tax rate of American businesses.
The perfect example for this kind of belief system was and still remains, the car manufacturers. Japanese cars and other imports would never have had the success that they currently have in the United States had not been for producing a car far better and more reliable than American made cars.
I personally vouch for this kind of mindset because driving American-made cars became for me, a total nightmare. For more than 50 years, I drove American made automobiles and except for my first car that I purchased in 1966 (Chevy Nova) every American-made car that I owned (Cadillac, Buick, Ford Country Squire, Jeep etc.) broke down continually resulting in time and financial losses.
Fifteen year ago, I purchase a Nissan and for the 15 years that I owned the car, the only expense that I had were brakes and oil changes. I finally sold the car in great condition for $1500. You and I would have had a hard time getting the same return with a GM or a Ford automobile in the 1970’s or in the 1980’s. The same is true with appliances and other products. After the warranty is over, everything breaks down. Sometimes, appliances break down even before the warranty expires.
But, fifty years ago this was not true in this country when America-made cars and other products were made to last for the long term. I remember my mother’s refrigerator that she purchased in 1959. That Frigidaire lasted for 20 years in my mother’s house and another 15 years in my own home when it was left to me when my parents retired to Italy. The same cannot be said for today’s appliances when in the past 15 years, I have replaced my refrigerator twice, my dishwasher 3 times and my washing machine twice.
No, today’s products do not equal the excellent quality of years past. Recently, though, I learned that in addition to poor quality, the reason our jobs are going overseas in droves is the rate of corporate taxes applied to corporations here in the United States. American businesses have to pay 35% of their profits in taxes while the same businesses abroad are only paying 16-20%. This is an enormous amount of money that the financial officer of a company cannot ignore. Because, let us face it, the main purpose of a business is to increase profits for their shareholders not to employ workers. In the final analysis, a company executive’s responsibility and loyalty is to the corporation, not to the men and women who work. This is why many American corporations are busy moving their operations overseas, away from the 35% tax nightmare.
Many pharmaceutical companies have moved to Ireland where corporate taxes are only 20%. This is also true in Switzerland where in some places; their business tax structure is around 16% much less than the 35% rate in the US. Today, even Canada is attracting American companies to do business there. So while our deficits keep increasing, foreign countries are reaping the benefits of taxation--payments that should be collected here in this country. According to the latest statistics, it is estimated that the United States is losing more than 40 billions of dollars each and every year that American companies do business outside the United States.
More damaging is the fact that some of these companies (technology in particular) i.e. Cisco and others sincerely want to bring their businesses back to this country but the current tax structure is prohibiting them to do so. Currently, the US has the highest corporate tax in the world. So while people scream about their jobs going overseas, the government does nothing to lower the corporate tax rate of American corporations.
Our government would rather lose the money from these businesses that operate away from the United States and increase the deficit, rather then lowering the tax rate. It does not make sense. If we truly want the jobs to come back to this country, first, we have to start making better quality products and second, we have to pressure our government officials in Washington to lower the corporate tax rate of American businesses.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Home Ownership: Not The Exclusive Right Of Every American.
In light of our current economic troubles and the still current housing bubble that brought about the lingering recession we are still experiencing today, I believe it is just and proper to bring to light the mistaken belief that owning a home in this country is, "the exclusive right of every American.
I remember when I bought my first home and to what lengths I had to go to get a $6,000 mortgage. It was to say the least, extremely difficult because as a 21 year old right out of High school, I had no credit and no references to speak about. To close the deal, the seller had to literally forfeit $1000 of the selling price to the bank for a period of one year to insure that I would make my monthly payments of $69.71. They were the hoops that I had to jump through in spite of having a 30% deposit on a house that sold for $8,900.
Those were the days when a prospective home buyer had to be “credit worthy” in order to buy a home. Well, how things have changed and not for the better because in recent years, the lack of credit worthiness for home buyers has given us the worse economic crisis in our nation’s history giving rise to our latest American label, "The Housing Bubble".
America is full of labels because we attach them to everything. Politicians use them all the time especially when they want to destroy an opponent or when they want to advance their position about an issue. For example, we often hear people speak of the “Bush’s War” referring to the war in Iraq and we blame or credit, depending on what side one is, “Reaganomics” for the economic boom of the ‘90’s or the economic breakdown of 2000 when the stock market and other financial institutions collapsed. In other words, when something goes wrong in America, we try to explain it with labels.
We paraphrase the unexplainable. In fact, labels in America have become more real than the reality itself. But how did we get to our latest label, "The Housing Bubble" to explain our current economic crisis? And when will this bubble finally burst? Why are homes still down 40% to 50% with businesses failing all over this country? What caused this drop in prices that has brought our entire economic system to its knees?
I remember clearly. Back in the 1990’s, when everyone was cheering the economic policies of president Bill Clinton, I knew that sooner or later the American people would have to pay a price for the extravagance of the President’s policies especially, when he established the “National Homeownership Strategy Plan” in 1994.” In a nutshell, president Clinton believed (falsely) that owning a home was the right of every american.
Clinton's plan called for first-time homebuyers to tap in their 401(k), IRA’s and other retirement plans with no penalty so that these people, who did not have a down payment, could use their retirement savings to buy that first house. In other words, potential homebuyers could purchase and own a home with zero dollars for their down payments and closing costs.
This new initiative that encouraged over-the-board home ownership on the surface seemed a great idea and a great opportunity for first time buyers. But, whoever heard of buying a home with zero dollars? More importantly, who ever said that owning a home was the exclusive right of everyone?
Today, as we look around this country, we see that the blame for such practices is widespread; there are many in government and in business who the american people can blame for what is now known as, the housing bubble but, president Clinton and later president Bush share some responsibility. The real culprit in this fiasco is the Washington establishment that created “The Community Reinvestment Act back in 1977. That legislation paved the way for Clinton and later Bush to force financial institutions in making risky mortgage loans to millions of homeowners, with poor credit ratings.
In fact, I clearly remember the time when then, Attorney General Janet Reno threatened legal action against lenders who refused to make certain kind of loans to homebuyers who were not credit worthy. In general, qualification standards were attacked and as a result were lowered to accommodate those buyers, who otherwise would not and should not have been approved. Credit histories and incomes were also overlooked and in many cases were not even considered for those buyers. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government sponsored institutions, also lowered their standards allowing them to purchase risky loans from banks and other financial establishments.
This process was further aggravated by President Bush in 2002 when he urged congress to enact the “American Dream Down Payment Assistance Act”, an action that helped subsidized down payments to homebuyers whose income was below normal. During the next five years, more legislation followed including the requirement of the Federal Housing Administration to eliminate even the down payment for some low income Americans.
Yes, to be sure, many are to blame for the worst recession this country has ever seen next only to the great depression of the 1930’s but the people responsible for the meltdown of the housing market are those who masterminded the idea that everyone deserved to own a home.
No, home ownership is not the “exclusive right” of every American. Just like everything in life, buying and owning a home is a gradual process and that process must be earned with savings, a credit history and most importantly, the ability to pay.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Government Poverty Programs Do Not Work; But Working The System Sure Does!!!!
Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson created the Great Society as a way to alleviate and/or eliminate the social problems of our inner cities. Johnson’s program was aimed primarily at the elimination of poverty as a result of years of segregation and racial injustices in many American cities. Better education was also a goal since many urban areas’ graduates were not reaping the same benefits as suburban schools. It was to say the least, a gallant effort by a president, who with the stroke of a pen, tried to eliminate years of unfairness, discrimination and injustices especially in those areas plagued by crime, high unemployment, mediocre education, lack of good medical care and other urban social problems.
Well, today some fifty years and billions of taxpayers’ dollars later, a good portion of our inner city populace are still at the poverty level but this time they are being financially sustained almost completely by the government. City public schools are still graduating illiterates, young adults ill equipped to enter the workforce many of which do not even know how to complete an employment application. Obviously, Johnson’s efforts as well as succeeding American presidents have failed in their endeavors to eliminate poverty in our inner cities in spite of the costly programs initiated to help the poor. But, while government poverty efforts have failed, in the process the people who rely on the government handouts have learned to work the system to their advantage and they do it well.
Today, 80 years and counting, after Roosevelt’s New Deal, Johnson’s Great Society and Obama’s Social Agenda of 2008, inner cities are still plagued by the same problems that were supposed to be eliminated through the efforts of these three democratic presidents who wanted to achieve equality among the races. Medicare and the Social Security System while still in existence today, are on the verge of bankruptcy due the fact that it spends more money that it takes in because less people pay into the system when compared to 50 years ago when the ratio was a favorable four workers for every recipient. Today, that ratio has been reversed, instead of having four people paying for one recipient, we have one worker paying for 4 recipients.
Working the system in this country has become a way of life for many Americans living off of the government assistance programs. In fact, working the system has become, “a great success story”, a business for many who rather collect a check than work. Why even illegal aliens learn how to work the system even before they set foot in this country. In the past two years alone, this administration has created so many entitlements that a new American culture has been created; “the non-working Americans”. This new American culture has become so devastating that if it is allowed to continue will have dire consequences for this country. I know first hand the economic doom of this kind of culture due to the fact, that for the first 13 years of my life, I lived in a place where 50% of the people worked while the other 50% lived on the shoulders of those who paid taxes.
So, why do we continue to pay out money without asking for something in return? When will this government, democrat and republican alike, face the fact that government poverty programs have not worked, are still not working at the present and will not work in the future? Why do we continue to pay people for not working, replacing the good american attributes of motivation, incentive and self-sufficiency with boredom, dependency and disincentiveness. Is this what we want for the future of this country? Welcome to the new american mentality of socialization, a society mired in socialistic ideals.
I have had personal experience with some of these people who receive government’s assistance, sometimes, even from birth to death. I have seen too many healthy young individuals who are working the system receiving Medicaid, housing assistance, food stamps (that they sell for cash) 100% full medical coverage without any co-pays, temporary assistance, supplemental security income, low income home energy assistance, utility subsidies, weatherization payments etc. etc. etc.
But my favorite is, the IRS Earned Income Credit refund for those people who work part-time while getting rewarded for working less than a 40-hr week. The IRS actually refunds up to $5600 to taxpayers who keep their income low while only paying a very small amount of taxes. Some people refuse to work a full week because if they work the full 40-hr week, they would not be able to receive this “unearned credit” refund.
Adding to the all-American giveaways is the fact that many of these part-time workers still collect all the freebies that the government gives away up to and including, totally free health care with not even $1 co-pay. So while many of my working friends and acquaintances (many of them seniors) go without their prescription medications and other necessities because they cannot afford them; many of those people who through the years learned how to work the system, get everything for free because the fools of this country continue to pay the bill with their taxes that are always increasing.
What a great excuse for not working, I wonder no more why the productivity index in this country is so low when compared to other countries i.e. China, a country we owe millions of dollars in debt. And, Let us not forget that these programs are paid on the backs of the shrinking working class. Today, even seniors are feeling the crunch of an inept system that has run wild. Under the new Obama’s budget, seniors are being asked to pay higher Medicare deductibles on the top of not receiving a cost-of-living increase for the last three years in a row resulting in a negative social security check for many who depend on that money.
Yes, in these United States, the truly needy, the children and the elderly deserve to be helped but when our tax dollars go to pay for healthy individuals who have made their life’s mission to work the system that these shortsighted presidents have enacted into law, then, it is time for change.
We need clear reform in America if we want to return to the days when this country was truly, the breadbasket of the free world. We must forget the freebees and replace them with offering the people the ideals that made this country great; motivation, incentive, self-reliance, independence, self-sufficiency and pride to be best one can be within the confines of the law of the land.
This should be the new America generation, the new 21st century of American greatness. To do less, will plunge this country into a social hurricane, a people’s revolution never seen anywhere on the face of the earth.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Conservative America: Needed: A New American Culture
Conservative America: Needed: A New American Culture: "Needed: A new American Culture. What is happening to America today? Fifty years ago, the only thing that immigrants (people who were fort..."
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