Thursday, February 19, 2009

I'll probably get audited after this repost but here goes

The Proposal"


When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.

Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.

Accomplish this over the next 8 years.. (two steps / two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay / member / yr.)

$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the reduction in remai ning staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion / yr)

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country?

We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)

Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full p ay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.

$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.

$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.

$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.

$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)

Big business does these types of cuts all the time.

If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benef its there is no telling how much we would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.

IF you are happy how the Congress spends our taxes, then just delete this message. IF you are NOT at all happy, then I assume you know what to do.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Chantix and dreams

I'm in the process of quitting smoking...or at least trying to, and my doctor prescribed Chantix. This is supposed to curb your appetite for nicotine from what I understand from the doctor. I've been smoking for a very long time so it doesn't seem to be helping, but I'm not giving up. I tried Zyban years ago and it only made me smoke more, tried the hypnotism and lit one up on my way out the door from the session. A former boss even offered me $500 to quit. Let's face it, I'm addicted, it's a way of life for me, be it a bad habit, I've been smoking for the better part of my life. I have managed to cut down quite considerably tho. I no longer smoke at work and have made a few other adjustments. Like I said, I won't quit trying to quit.
Back to the topic. Chantix. Since I've been taking this, I have been having the most vivid dreams. I haven't been able to remember my dreams in years. It's nice to have that back. So regardless if I'm able to quit or not, I would still like to keep taking the Chantix...I'm addicted to dreaming. LOL. I've had derams anywhere from jamming in a band with my favorite hockey player to taking my nerdy friends to a Rob Zombie like circus. What's really strange is that over the past few weeks I have somewhat been able to control them too. What happens is that for some reason I'll realize that I'm in a dream and start directing what I would like to happen. Talking about living in a fantasy world where you can do whatever you want, this is it. I know that I'll eventually have to stop taking the Chantix but hopefully I won't lose the dreams in the process.
You Are 87% Grown Up, 13% Kid
Your emotional maturity is fully developed, and you have an excellent grasp on your emotions. In fact, you are so emotionally mature - you should consider being a therapist!
How Emotionally Mature Are You?