https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oOysfAAsmQ
Louisiana Senator Elbert Lee Guillory previously a Democrat in now a Republican. In this video Senator Guillory explains why he chose to become a Republican and why he believes this would be the right decision for all of his black brothers and sisters.
Treat the National Budget Like a Family Budget
Have you ever wondered how a politician can go into office as a middle income American and a few years later are wealthy? Why is it that they can pad their own pockets while putting the rest of us further into debt? Could it be that they can only keep their eyes on a single budget and it’s their own?
When running for office most politicians both liberal and conservative believe that the Federal Government should act like any business or family and live within their means. Unfortunately once in office they are swayed by their party leaders to tow the party line and receive the goodies that come along with it or serve a single term in office.
Perhaps I am being a bit harsh but am I? If you are honest with yourself and consider what a rubber stamp congress has brought us during recent times you will understand. It is obvious that our politicians both local and national need to get back to budgeting the hard earned dollars of tax payers in the same way they would budget the income of their own family.
Maybe comparing the government to a family seems trite, but current events seem to justify the analogy.
A family has income supplied by the adults in the family through their own efforts–either through their employment or their entrepreneurial efforts. They can incur debt up to a certain point. And what is that point? When no creditor is willing to lend them any more money.
Up until that point, to borrow any further, they are likely to have to pay more in interest rates. Even to the point where they have to find lenders who would charge exorbitant fees and interest rates.
With the passing of Michael Jackson, the media related that he was 500 million dollars in debt. How could that be? Evidently there were those who were willing to extend credit to him and his operation on the basis of his ability to pay that debt at some point in the future. Or maybe his celebrity prompted others to extend him significant credit.
The average person or family normally wouldn’t have that much credibility to attract such beneficent creditors.
Well, the Federal Government has a similar situation to Michael Jackson. There is sufficient credibility and trust in the United States Government that others (including countries such as China) are willing to lend the money to continue operating. However, as has been the case, the government must increase the interest rate paid in order to continue to entice others to lend them the money.
At what point does a person or family realize that it can’t cover all the debt they incur? When their expenses exceed their income. At that point, perhaps after a period of hiding from the creditors, they have to declare bankruptcy or place their finances in the hands of an agent who will reduce their finance charges and allocate limited financial resources to them.
At what point does the Government realize that it can’t cover all the debt they incur? As we see, the creditors of the United States Government are willing to accept an appreciation on their investment. The Government only pays the interest on the debt because they roll over the debt every so often. As long as the government revenues cover the debt service–or interest–it is able to stay afloat.
However, there may come a time when creditors will not be willing to lend the United States Government any more money at any interest rate–same as families and individuals. It may be a ways off, but if the government continues to rack up the debt at the rate it is going, there must come a time when the Government truly will go bankrupt.
I hope you now understand how the family budget (and debt) is no different than the Federal Government debt. If you want the answer to how the politicians are able to pad their own pockets just look at the bills they support and you will understand!
~A Concerned Citizen~
Pork Barrel Spending is Putting Kids in Deep Poop
What is pork barrel politics and pork barrel spending? You keep hearing about pork barrel politics and pork barrel spending and maybe you don’t know what it is. That’s okay for I didn’t either until I first looked it up.
Pork barrel spending is wasteful spending that our politicians do. Those stupid politicians that I keep writing about at Kids Speak for America. These idiots are spending so much money that us kids will never get out of debt unless we take things in our own hands and straighten them up as it sure doesn’t look like adults want to do it.
The adults or people of voting age that elect politicians and can also get rid of them are called constituents. A politician wants to keep these people voting so they can get elected again. Unfortunately way too many politicians are only thinking of getting elected and are not thinking about representing their constituents the right way.
One way politicians try to get reelected is by getting the government to spend money in the area where their constituents live. Some of the money they get is good and very important. Some of the money they get is wasteful and this wasteful money is pork barrel spending.
Lets say that your mom had $50 to buy some groceries and you wanted her to spend $25 of that money on soda and potato chips so you could have a party for some kids so they would like you better. Maybe that is not the best example for you shouldn’t have to pay people to like you if you are treating them right. But lets say your mom gave in spent the money on potato chips and soda for your friends. These kids would probably like you better while they were drinking the soda and eating the chips. The rest of the week you would be lucky to be eating pork and beans because there was only so much money to spend on groceries. That wasteful spending on party food would be just like the politicians wasteful spending because the money was not spent properly and the government only has so much money to spend.
It is good for politicians to represent their constituents and get money for important projects but the money has to be spent in the right way. Some pork projects might be good project when there is extra money for them. Many projects are outrageous, too expensive or should be paid for another way.
Here are some examples of some things that seem to be bad spending when our nation is already so far in debt.
North Carolina State got $253,123 to preserve dead bugs.
In Georgetown a ritzy Washington, D.C. neighborhood got 3 million dollars for bike racks.
Wake Forest University got $71,623 to study monkeys using cocaine.
Wake Forest University got another $141,694 to study how to reduce hot flashes through yoga.
In West Virginia they spent $380,350 to encourage people to grow shiitake mushrooms and ginseng.
University of North Carolina Charlotte got $763,272 to develop computer technology to record the dance moves of performers.
To me some of those things sound like real wasteful spending when our country has a huge national debt and is putting us kids in poop up to our heads.
When I was a little kid my dad didn’t spank me but he gave me timeouts. As I got older the timeouts were longer and longer. Timeouts are what these really stupid politicians need. I hope that all young people old enough to vote and all old people will give them a long time out by voting them out in November.
I am saying vote out Democrats, Republicans, Independents or anyone else that is wasting our money. Replace them with conservatives of any party as long as they will not put us kids so far in debt. If you only have a choice of two to pick the one that is more conservative. If they get elected and keep screwing us vote them out in the next election. If we don’t do something now we will never get out of debt.
What Politicians Don’t Want You to Know
The present political climate reminds me of this incident that took place in the past. A well known reporter was interviewing a retiring politician. This interview got off to a good start as the reporter questioned the politician on the accomplishments of his long political career.
As the interview progressed the politician said, “I want to tell the public what politics is all about – the real story about politics, whether you are talking about dictatorships, monarchies, totalitarian rulers or democracies. It is all about power. The power to run the country how you want it to be run. It is not about the citizens of the country. It is all about you and your colleagues. Any politician that tells you that they are in it to help the citizens of their town, city, province/state, or country is telling a bald-faced lie.”
Many reading this article may find the statements made by this politician a bit shocking. I would like to think that what he was saying is an exaggeration but is it? Think about it for even 6th grade kids like Seth at Kids Speak for America see through these politicians. If kids are seeing through them it’s about time that adults do to!
A term that we hear and read day-in and day-out is “Party in Power.” Does this mean that when discussing political parties that form our government, politics, first and foremost, is all about power? Read on and listen to more of what this retiring politician had to say.
As the politician continued his description of politics that he himself had spent almost his entire working career in, he made the following statements:
“Dictatorships and totalitarian regimes hang onto power by fear and when that does not work, they resort to force. Monarchies hold onto power by birthright. Democratically elected people hold onto power by telling the public whatever the public wants to hear. What they say does not have to be true, just believable.
In a democracy, when a person joins a political party and lets the officials know that he or she would like to be the party’s representative in the area in which they live, the officials determine if the prospective candidate has the charisma to win the next election. If they do, the party insiders indoctrinate that individual into the proper political mindset. The first lesson a potential politician learns is that they are responsible to the party, not the electorate. Their responsibility is to get elected and once elected to ensure that they will be re-elected in every succeeding election. Their responsibility is not to represent the citizens of their area, but to support their party’s plans for that area. The party’s first priority for any area is to ensure that their financial supporters are rewarded in some significant way. They then rate the area in how important it is in keeping them in power. The more important it is, the more benefits the area receives.
For every politician, there are dozens of party advisors, personal advisors, speech writers, aids and other hangers-on. As much as possible, all these “extras” keep the politician toeing the party line and in the limelight. Whenever a promised “goody” for the area does not materialize, the party instructs the politician to blame it on the opposition party, the economy, or the price of oil (most of which is controlled by OPEC – always a favorite whipping boy). (Just as an aside, have you ever met a politician that was successful in having the price of oil lowered? You will not find one. That is because it is in their best interest and the best interest of their party to keep the price of oil as high as they possibly can. This gives the public a focal point for their anger and it allows the politician and the party to do things that are in their best interest that would normally rile the public if they were paying attention. However, if the public’s attention is focused on the price of oil, or the availability of gasoline, they are not paying attention to the sneaky things the politicians are doing in the background to increase their own and their party’s fortunes).
As the politician continued to open up he went on to point out that a large percentage of a politician’s friends, financial supporters and relatives were found in comfortable, well paying jobs in the government, on government commissions or other publicly funded groups. However, that is just a side benefit. The real reason for becoming a politician is to be part of the group that decides the fate of their nation. The exhilarating thrill of having the destiny of a nation and the future of it and possibly the future of the world in the palm of your hand is a rush like nothing else you will ever experience.”
As the writer of this article I share this information for perhaps there is a new generation. Perhaps there really are those running for office now that want to see change in the way our system operates. Even young people such as I found here at Kids Speak for America can offer change. Like Seth said in one of his messages I read at twitter, “Politicians need to listen to kids for we are the future voters and taxpayers.” You go get them buddy and I am pleased to submit this article to you.
~An Old Fart That Wants Change~
We Don’t Need a Contract with America
They talk about how great the Contract with America was and how maybe they should have another one. I’m only in 6th grade and wasn’t even around then. I do know that what we need to do is throw the bums out that keep spending so much money.
My dad works two part time jobs and my grandpa who should be retired works so we can just pay our bills. My mom and dad do not live together and my mom is very poor.
Some of my friend’s parents collect unemployment and won’t go back to work until it runs out because they make more money on unemployment than dad and grandpa makes working.
My family may not have much money but I know that it is not right to take money from people just because they have more than us.
Obama and the Democrats have to stop spending so much money. Obama thinks that he is the messiah and his family takes fancy vacations. I guess that is okay if he was paying for it all but you know that we pay for his jet and protection and lots of other things on those fancy trips.
Obama and the Democrats want to help all of these union people and that does not help people like my dad who is not in a union and does not want to be in one.
My grandpa used to have some money and extreme environmentalist made his land worthless. Then the government took the rest of his money for taxes when they went after grandpa because he was what grandpa called the deep pockets in a company he used to be part of that owed money to the IRS. Grandpa said the IRS sent him a refund check for $13.13 just to rub it in.
I am a kid but not a dumb kid and I know that all of this money the government spends has to be paid for in the future by us kids.
You might think my ideas suck but as a kid I think you need to vote for people that will think of us kids and how we are going to pay for things when we grow up. Most politicians seem to only think about how they are going to get re-elected and not how us kids are going to pay for it.
