Mr Balcombe is going to Washington
My beautiful wife has been working furiously behind the scenes to create a wonderful birthday present for me. This time she may have outdone herself. She’s planned a trip for us to Washington DC.
I am so thrilled about this trip that I can little think of anything else.
We’ve already made several different arrangements for tours of certain government buildings as well as acquired tickets for a couple of different sporting events but the final itinerary is far from set.
So I bring it to you, the people, to help us determine how best to spend our days.
For all who have been to DC I ask you to give me a list of the top 10 things we absolutely MUST do. Also if you have any tips or anything like that we would love to hear it.
For those who have never been but have wanted to go I ask that you give me a list of things you think would be most fascinating.
I promise to give a detailed blog report on how the trip went after we get back.
political rant
Why does it bother us when companies spend bailout money?
I was adamantly opposed to the original wall street bailout now known as the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), which gave away around 800 Billion dollars. I was disgusted by the whole concept. I even went so far as to send out a massive amount of emails begging people to call their representatives and senators. And we were tremendously successful in showing our disgust and distaste. Of course our representatives didn’t listen to us because they knew we wouldn’t follow through with our threats and we promptly re-elected the clowns who shamefully gave away our money.
So now that these banks are given a fresh infusion of capital what do they do with it?
They spend it.
They spend it on corporate jets.
They spend it on corporate jaunts where they arrive on corporate jets.
They spend it on the naming rights of baseball stadiums where they can sit in luxury sky boxes.
They spend it on redecorating their offices.
They spend it on salaries for top executives.
And we have a problem with this because???
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican in the Senate Banking Committee tells us why we have a problem…
“But where you’ve got federal money involved, taxpayers’ money involved, TARP money involved, and the way they have spent it, with no accountability, is getting close to being criminal.”
And so now Obama and his newly appointed tax cheat, treasury secretary say that we should limit the executive pay of these banks to 500K per year.
Idiots.
I hated the bailout but now that we’ve given away money I say there should be no restrictions on how it is spent.
Why?
Because when it is spent it comes back to me.
When they buy airplanes California makes money.
When they visit San Diego for a week Sand Diego makes money.
When an executive gets paid 10 million dollars he spends millions of dollars. When and executive gets paid 500,000 he can’t spend millions.
Spending money is what gets the economy going.
The idea that the government can limit the pay of the successful is down right horrifying.
What have we become?
“It’s not fair that these guys make so much money!”
Evidently you don’t understand the meaning of the word fair. Would you think it “fair” to have your salary cut by 10%, 50%, 100%, 500%?
“500,000 is more than enough money to be able to live on.”
Granted. I will never in my life earn 500,000 a year (well maybe with inflation going the way it is I might). But think about people accustomed to earning millions per year now earning 500,000. What are they going to do? Make dramatic lifestyle changes. Meaning they will have to cut out of their budgets all kinds of things. You know what the number 1 thing people cut out of their budgets? Charitable contributions.
Remember getting that check from the government last year for 600, or 1,200 dollars? I didn’t ask for that check but they gave it to me. They gave you one too (assuming you’ve paid taxes). What did you do with that check?
I don’t care if you invested it, paid rent with it or put it on the spin of a roulette wheel, what you did with it is your business.
The government shouldn’t have given you it, but once they do they can’t tell you what to do with it.
“He’s gonna spread happiness. He’s gonna spread freedom.”
Freedom? Freedom? Freedom?
In another unrelated quote Obama said yesterday regarding the Senator Daschle debacle…
“We can’t send a message to the American people that we’ve got two sets of rules — one for prominent people and one for ordinary people,”
hmmm if we are all going to be held to the same standards then when are we all going to have our pay determined by the governement?
ANSWER: When the governemnt controls all the jobs.
And the unimaginable is now not so far fetched is it?
He’s gonna spread happiness.
He’s gonna spread freedom.
Obama’s gonna change it.
Obama’s gonna lead us.
He’s gonna change it and rearrange it.
He’s gonna change the world.
