US Government Waste

The CAGW (Citizens Against Government Waste – cagw.org) reports on government waste in various areas of our bloated system. Congress and government employees continue to waste billions of dollars. Each year this type of information makes the news in various formats. You have to wonder how government officials can read this information (maybe a staff member should bring it to their attention) and continue to ignore calls from the public for reform in the way they handle money that actually belongs to the taxpayer. Have they become so lost in their lifestyle that their sense of responsibility has vanished? There are also other type of reports and media coverage that mention waste in various government agencies and departments. Government employees just don’t seem to remember who they work for and whose money they spend. Just a reminder, it is the rest of the American citizens you are supposed to answer to regarding this wasteful spending. Where is responsible management? Are there no controls in effect to monitor excess spending or rogue employees? There is so much that needs to be done in America and could be done with the wasted funds. Try balancing the budget. Apply some of these funds to various worthwhile projects such as social security and Medicare. Direct some funds to eliminate the fraud in both of those areas since it appears to be out of control. Maybe the next President could make an effort at addressing this matter by appointing someone with the necessary vision and intelligence to a position with the authority to correct this situation. This could begin by eliminating a number of unnecessary positions within the inflated government. The President’s authority may be limited, but the public needs to demand action from Congress and the President along with voting those undesirable individuals out of office. We need one term limits on members of Congress so they become servants of the citizens and not special interest groups and big money donors. There is so much that could be done to make this great country better and it is past time to move in that direction.

Congress & Healthcare

Healthcare costs and insurance costs are out of control and too many Americans are struggling to survive while trying to cover payments for healthcare and coverage.  Members of Congress, their staff, and government employees have excellent coverage paid for by the taxpayers.  Every taxpaying citizen should have the same type coverage as a minimum since they foot the bill.  There should be no problem with assessing some type of tax on individuals making over $250,000 (including members of Congress, who are overpaid) to assist with the cost.  This group should consider themselves lucky to be in America with the opportunity to make that income.  It should be easy to find savings in current government spending as an offset if someone actually makes an effort, since there is outrageous waste in government.  It is time for regulation of the healthcare and insurance industries.

United States Congress

Actions by the United States Congress in relation to health care reform provide an excellent example of how this government body fails to represent and serve the American public. This has been nothing but a public relations performance by the members to make the public think they are actually doing something when in fact they are doing nothing. The end result will provide nothing of real value except possible pre-existing condition reform for children, but adults will have to wait 3-4 years for reform in this area. Why wait for changes to take effect? Could lobbying money have something to do with this delay? Maybe some changes will take place for coverage related to people without insurance, but this area leaves many questions. Maybe the public will wake up someday and realize they have the power to take the do nothing members out of office and replace them with real people, or maybe not, this has been happening since the beginning! The amusing aspect is that this grandstanding event takes the attention away from the fact that the American economy is still in the dumps because members of Congress failed in their duties to protect the public from greed and corruption in the financial industry. Members of Congress are a failure when it comes to serving the public. Their success is in relation to giving themselves pay raises and living like royalty at the expense of taxpayers. The question is will the public be upset enough to take action at the polls when they realize and understand the actual end results of the so-called reform.

Support Our Military

The American public needs to remember that we have military troops all over the world providing service to our country. It is easy to forget this fact while we live in our own little worlds concentrating on our lives and the pursuit of our dreams. We may not agree with certain military operations, but we all need to remember the sacrifices made by these volunteer service members. If you are dissatisfied with certain military operations, you should voice those concerns to members of Congress. Maybe some day Congress will listen to the people. In the meantime, all Americans should remember our military troops and show support whenever and wherever possible. This can be simple things such as walking up to someone in uniform and expressing thanks to him or her for their service to our country.

Social Security & Medicare

Recent news articles indicate both of these programs are in very serious trouble. Social Security will pay out more than it takes in by 2016 and Medicare will be insolvent by 2017. Government has known this, but apparently nothing is being done to fix the situation. The President and Congress are doing nothing to protect the welfare of average citizens while dumping trillions of taxpayer’s dollars down the drain on bailouts without adequate knowledge that it will help the economy or adequate controls. Wake up America and demand action by your representatives! The time for action is now, not years from now. If your representative is not willing to take action, maybe they should be booted out of office. The same goes for the President. The members of Congress need to change their self-serving attitudes and represent the American public. This is just another example of government being overpaid with no worries about their own retirement while ignoring their constituents. What does it take for the public to demand action?

Veterans

I read numerous articles related to veterans and their troubles in various areas. Recently there were two letters in a newspaper regarding two different aspects of the military. One was related to a man in uniform and his effort to assist a female by chasing her car down to return her wallet that was dropped in a store parking lot. The other was regarding problems related to the VA Medical Centers. One individual stated he had to sit in the emergency room for hours before even having his vitals taken, much less see a doctor. He stated that the excuse was they were understaffed and had only one nurse. He stated the personnel were rude, uncaring, and acted like they were only interested in finishing the shift and their paycheck. Emergency rooms are certainly a problem across the nation in all hospitals and there is a nurse shortage, but I have seen salary information for VA hospital staff and they are certainly well paid, if not overpaid. This is an area that should be reviewed by government and action taken to solve the problem. Change the rules and start firing people and replacing them with people that will get the job done. The public deserves better medical care and veterans certainly deserve excellent medical care.

Teachers Pay

A recent article about bonus money (in addition to salaries) being paid to school principals, assistant principals, and teachers is a disturbing aspect of the current public education system. Don’t get me wrong, I believe teachers should receive a reasonable salary for the important work they are or should be doing to prepare students for the world. This is related to my dissatisfaction with the Federal Teachers Incentive Fund and the process of providing a merit-pay system for the biggest gains in attendance and test scores. This involves amounts from $2,500 to $10,000 depending on position. I am sure there are plenty of excellent teachers that are doing excellent jobs, but what happened to doing the job you are hired to do at the salary provided for the position. If you are not performing or doing the job properly then you should be fired, as it should be in any business or industry. The public school system has many problems and this is evident by the number of students that manage to graduate without being able to speak properly or have a reasonable knowledge of math or history. The public school system has deteriorated over the years. The problem would appear to be related to teaching ability and I don’t feel using money in such a manner is the proper way to solve the problem. There is the additional problem related to a lot of parents not taking a strong enough interest in their children and school, but the answer to that problem is evasive. Teachers should not have to be enticed with bonus money in order to fulfill their responsibilities. They should be replaced with individuals interested in preparing students for the difficult world they are about to enter. Salaries that I have seen published for principals and assistant principals appear to be very reasonable amounts and it should be automatic to replace those individuals if their schools are not performing.