Abandon Ship!

I was away from home today so I had a chance to listen to a lot of radio... And every talk station I flipped through was talking about the government bail out.

I gotta tell you... I'm not a fan of this. Not one bit. Many are calling it the "Billionaire Bailout" and they really aren't wrong. If this gets passed (and I'm sure it will) it will mean big government and big business all intertwined. We won't just be flirting with socialism, we'll be half way there.

I'm not even going to point any fingers as this is the fault of all our government officials beginning with Carter, ignored by Reagan and Bush Sr., re-inforced by Clinton (in this article from winter 2000 it was called a mistake), and completely bumbled by W... Our Congress, which holds America's purse strings, has been much too free-spending with the People's money these past two decades and it was bound to catch up with us. Even the NY Times thought so in 1999. And Bill Clinton today.

So, as much as I know the bail out is inevitable, I also know it's only a band-aid. So I have a few suggestions for Washington (and, yes,I am sending these on to my state representatives who seem to have forgotten just who they work for)...

Because we recently went through drastic steps to live within our own budget and quit borrowing money (although I only have one set of books to manage. I understand the government has three. One to make us feel good, one to make them feel good and a real one) I have a few suggestions...

So, Washington, here's what I think you should do.

1) Cut all unnecessary spending. In fact, suspend all entitlement programs. All of them. Yes, even welfare, Medicaid and the department of education. HUD needs pared down drastically... Endowments? That's for when you have money. We have no money. Buh-bye endowments. This chart (and it's only half the government spending) from 2004 is a good place to begin...

Mostly you're just getting in the way and wrapping us in red tape. Leave it to the states. When we have enough money to cover them again maybe we'll talk.

2) Can you say "garage sale"?

• Sell NASA and give any strategic stuff to the Navy or Air Force. Let rocket scientists work without restrictions and on some billionaire's dime. Let them raise money by taking other billionaires for rides on the shuttle.
• Sell Amtrak. How it continues to lose money is beyond me. But yet you keep pumping money in to it. Sell it, use the money to pay off debt and let someone who knows how to run a business take over. I bet it will turn a profit in less than 5 years.
• Let the UN move to another country. Like the poorest country in Africa. They could use the income a bunch of diplomats bring in (HA!)
• You seem to own a lot of land in the western part of the US. With the property values in California and Nevada you could make a nice sum of money if you sold some of it.

3) Stop sending money to other countries. The only ones that make any sense are Panama and Egypt (so we can access the canals).

4) Stop giving yourself pay raises! Your approval rating is in the single digits. At a "real" job that would get you a pink slip.

5) Take your lunch to work. Pay for your own parking. Pare down your staff. Stop spending my money on your frivolities.

Cutting your spending and living within your means can be painful and you may have to give up some of those "niceties" you've become used to doling out without a thought. But you know what? Your job depends on it. I'm angry and I vote. Those pink slips just may be coming sooner than you think.