THE REAL SOCIAL SECURITY DEBT $11.1 trillion
That amount grew by $600 Billion last year! And it will
continue to grow because our elected officials from both
parties refuse to stand up and fix it by a combination of
raising taxes and freezing or lowering benefits. It's obvious
that we have to do both yet you don't have the courage to face
it or tell the American people that we have to face it.
Year after year there will be more retirees and other
recipients as compared to workers. By 2050 every worker will
also have to pay half of the benefit of a recipient in
addition to trying to raise and educate their own kids! It
soon becomes impossible. Currently, only about 84% of wages in
covered employment is within today's maximum taxable wage
base. So we tax lower income employees at a higher rate than
we do higher income employees. Is that fair? The longer you,
our elected officials, refuse to fix this problem the more
expensive it will be. Yet the Democratic congress wouldn't
face the issue with President Bush and there is no indication
that either of you guys care enough to be honest about it or
will be able to do anything about it either.
IMPORTING OIL $800 Billion per year now and
growing!
How long can that go on? Don't you get it? Well if you do,
please explain it to the rest of us. We are going broke and
yet neither of you demonstrate the urgency of the situation or
proposes a specific plan. Obama at least set a goal of
something in 10 years but no plan. McCain probably has the
right idea with nuclear power plants but no specific urgent
plan about how to get it done.
Here we have a private citizen, T. Boone Pickens, spending
millions of his own dollars giving us a plan yet neither of
you acknowledged him or his ideas or offered an alternative
plan. He says we could build a lot of windmills to create
electricity and use natural gas to power our automotive fleet
which would be cheaper and cleaner and would last while we
develop the alternatives. Why don't you have a plan? Is this
too tough to face and decide?
EXECUTIVE ABUSES
What has made us a wealthy nation is that we had plenty of
innovation and jobs and we were exporting our goods to other
nations. Now many of our higher paying jobs for the average
worker have been shipped overseas. And the Executives on the
Boards of Directors are giving their buddy Executives massive
payments from the stockholder's pockets. It's so easy to point
to the abuses of others to justify your own actions. Yet we
stockholders have no realistic way to hold them liable for
their abuses.
Let there be no mistake about it. The companies are really
owned by average people through our 401k plans and other
investments. Yet, we have no control over the 'money managers'
who don't take action and vote those shares in the interest of
the shareholders to stop the abuses. And we have no realistic
control over the Boards of Directors because the money
managers 'own' so much of the stock. Both should have a
fiduciary responsibility so that we investors can hold them
accountable. 'Doing what is right' is getting the incentives
right. At least Obama is saying to change the tax incentives
to get jobs back here but McCain doesn't address this issue
appropriately it seems to me.
But the really big immediate issue is our addiction to oil.
There is almost a guarantee that we have huge reserves in the
Gulf of Mexico and we already have nearly 4,000 rigs out there
with 30 years of no problems and the transmission capabilities
to get it to the refineries. But our Democratic
representatives cower to their 'leadership' and refuse to let
us get it. John McCain is facing the issue of drilling
offshore but Obama stands with his 'party' with no plan.
McCain quit trying to drill in Anwar because there is no
chance of getting that past the Democrats.
That leaves the only alternative to keep buying from
overseas and getting more dependent and more susceptible to
attacks and losing more of our wealth. And why? There can be
no doubt that the positives outweigh the negatives for this
nation. But not for the Democratic party and its
candidates.
NATIONAL DEBT $9 trillion
And we are already planning to spend $400 Billion more this
next year than we take in! I know our 'wonderful' elected
officials keep saying that as a percentage of the "Gross
Domestic Product" that's not so bad. But what in the world
does that mean? I don't care. Whatever it is, let's get our
taxing and spending in balance! Each of you are promising more
'tax reductions to prevent a recession' but if we don't come
to grips with overspending we'll hit a much tougher wall one
of these days pretty soon.
Already over half of our total national budget is spent
paying interest on the national debt and that is getting worse
year after year! Think of all we could do with that interest
money if we paid off the debt! How long can this go on? How
long would it go on in your household budget? This is
destroying our nation and our way of life yet neither of you
have shown that you 'get it'.
McCain at least says he will reign in government spending
but won't face more taxes. Obviously the rich are getting way
too much of the wealth and not paying a reasonable tax
considering our national situation. Yet the Republicans can't
stand to face raising taxes because that wouldn't look good
for the Republican party.
Enough is enough! Stand up with Integrity for our country!
Prove it!
Jerry W. Willis - author of a new
Purpose in Life book for all of us. see http://www.jerrywwillis.com
To receive the free E-Workbook: Starting
the Journey - the first step in understanding your
Purpose in Life which will help you and your kids build
the life you've been dreaming of, visit http://www.jerrywwillis.com go to the Contact Us tab fill in the
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