Time for limits?
With the enormous amount of spending being done by our current Congress (pork included), I think the questions needs to be asked:
Do we need to impose limits to the number of terms senators and representatives can serve?
We limit the terms our President can serve (which limits his power), yet we do nothing to limit the power and influence of the Congress. Take Ted Kennedy, for example. Here’s a guy that has been in the Senate since 1962. So this man has exerted influence over the country for 47 years. Read that again.
47 years.
47 years of Kennedy’s politics. 47 years of extreme left wing ideas. 47 years of one man’s agenda affecting the outcome of bills and the money being spent by our government (read: you and I).
If there were limits to the number of terms served, you’d get more accomplished. If you knew you only had 6 years to accomplish something while in office, you’d be a lot more focused in your approach. Also, you’d be a little less worried about buying votes (through pork spending and the like) for the next election (since you wouldn’t be eligible) and more worried about making a real change.
Why do we limit the term of one man, but let 535 people serve for as long as they want, especially when they are passing garbage like the most recent spending bill? (For those wondering, “What spending bill?”, it’s the one masquerading as a “stimulus” bill.) It doesn’t make sense.
Limit the number of terms and you’ll see a more focused Congress and a more efficient Congress.
Auto Bailout Update
Quick update on the auto bailout.
First, I pointed out a while ago that Union’s will do anything to retain their considerable power. They’ve already flexed their muscle regarding the bailout by stating they they would make no wage or benefit concessions with the auto companies and they expect the government to step in to make sure that the American auto industry doesn’t crumble. Now they are showing their true colors. After some Southern Republicans sank an auto bailout bill in the house, UAW leaders accused these Senators of conspiring with the foreign auto makers to drive UAW wages down so that there would be no benefit to joining the union. The UAW knows that their time of controlling the auto industry and having enormous political power is ending, so they will do whatever is necessary to retain that power. Even if it means accusing members of Congress of conspiring with their competitors.
Personally, I think these Senators should be commended for saying enough is enough. I’ve made my thoughts on the bailout of the auto industry quite clear but I’ll reiterate them here. The American auto industry has been completely mismanaged for decades and they are going to die with or without our money. Don’t drag out their death by wasting our money; let them die now.
The truly sad part of this whole story is that the actions of these Senators will be all for naught in the end. The Bush administration has that they will make money available to the auto industry, possibly from the $700 billion bailout kitty.
The second thing I wanted to comment on is this announcement from GM. They are temporarily cutting production and jobs in order to adjust to declining demand for their cars.
I don’t what’s funnier – that it’s taken GM 20+ years to make a sensible business decision or the fact that this is all a temporary move. They are facing extinction and their answer is to temporarily cut production as opposed to permanently cutting capacity and costs.
Do they think that the American public will one day again clamor for poorly made American crap?
Waste of Money
I’m sure you’re already aware that Congress wastes your money. Sometimes it’s wasted on pork spending. Sometimes its wasted saving poorly run auto companies from themselves. But, no matter how bad we think those are, they are no where near as bad as this.
That’s right. Congress will now spend time on legislation designed to scrap the BCS and implement a play-off in college football. Now, I want to make it clear, that as an avid football fan (and a rabid Alabama fan), that I am in favor of some sort of play-off system in college football. But I don’t think that the American public’s time and money should be wasted in an attempt to get a play-off implemented.
Does Congress have nothing better to do right now? We’re in the middle of the worst recession since 1980 and Congress is going to waste our time and money debating the merits of this legislation. And did anyone notice who it was that introduced this garbage legislation? That’s right, Republican Joe Barton from Texas. Anyone care to take a guess as to which team felt they got screwed by the BCS this year? That’s right! The Texas Longhorns. This jackass is TAKING A DUMP ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS so that he can maybe score a few more votes from the Longhorn fans.
I might not be this pissed off, if this wasn’t a persistent problem in all levels of government. Last year, the legislature in my home state of Georgia passed legislation supporting the implementation of a play-off in college football. This was after the Georgia Bulldogs felt they were screwed out of the title game. Last year and earlier this, the US Congress spent an insane amount of time and resources investigating steroids in baseball.
Government needs to stay the hell out of sports. The American people have their hard earned stolen from them by Congress and in turn, Congress wastes that money on bullshit like this. Write your Senator and your Representative and tell them NOT to waste your time – and it is your time if you elected them to serve you – on crap like this. Make sure they know that there are worse problems in this country than the Texas Longhorns not playing for the national title. The last thing we need is for Congress to ignore the demise of the country in favor of getting their hands into sports.
Besides, government has already screwed up education; they’d probably screw this up too.
Vote Buying 101
Senate Democrats are putting on a clinic in Washington on how to buy votes. They are pushing forward with plans to introduce legislation that would earmark a portion of the $700 billion bailout for the failing American auto companies.
So how is this vote buying? Simple. The auto makers employees are members of the UAW. The UAW is lobbying the Democrats to send money to the auto industry in exchange for votes. If the Democrats send money to the auto makers, the unions will strongly suggest (i.e. coerce) that their membership vote Democrat in the next election.
The Democrats don’t give a crap about whether the workers in Detroit and other auto factories across the country keep their jobs or not. They care only about seizing power and using that power to steal the American public’s money and spend it on more vote buying programs so that they can maintain power.
Now, I think it’s been evident from other posts that I’ve made, that I am against the bailout. But just the possibility of the auto makers being bailed out makes me madder than anything else. The auto makers have been failing for years – why should they be bailed out now (other than the aforementioned vote buying scam)?
Companies like AIG, Bank of America, etc. are being bailed out because they got caught up in the booming economy and made some incredibly risky decisions revolving around the expanding credit markets. Things suddenly went sour and they lost a ton of money. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think that’s an excuse to bail them out, but it makes more sense than the auto makers.
Auto makers – and let me be clear, I’m talking about GM and Ford – have a history of making poor decisions that long ago crippled them and begin their demise. They weren’t caught off guard by a slumping economy and suddenly found themselves in the tank. They’ve been in the crapper for a long time.
Why? Because they allowed their employees to unionize and control all their employee related costs. Because they failed to understand the American auto market and adapt quickly. Because they failed to make themselves more efficient when their competitors (Honda and Toyota) were revolutionizing the industry with how they assembled cars and changed production lines. Because they failed to control overhead by reducing the number of employees, factories and dealerships as the demand for their cars fell.
For all of these reasons, GM and Ford don’t deserve our money. All this $25 billion will do is delay the inevitable. GM and Ford are ill equipped to compete in the auto market in today’s economy because they have completely failed to change the way they do business. Even as they lay dying, they continue to crank out SUV’s, even though the American market is moving away from gas guzzling behemoths. They will crash and burn with or without our money.
This is another opportunity for us as Americans to use our purchasing power to make a statement to government and private industry that we are displeased with the bailout. Don’t buy Ford or GM products. Actually, I don’t really need to say that, as most people don’t buy them now.
Don’t let the Democrats get away with buying votes using your money. Contact your Senator and make him or her fully aware of your displeasure in what the Democrats are attempting to do. Make them aware that your vote cannot be bought and will be used to support another candidate should they support the Democrats in their bid to buy votes.
You have a voice America. Use it.