POLITICIANS WORK FOR US, WE DON'T WORK FOR THEM

I have come to believe that politicians think we work for them. Somewhere, they got this crazy notion that they know what is best for us. And it's unfortunate that the vast majority of citizens let them get away with this.

We can not and should not let our future be dictated by politicians. If we are serious about coming out of the current economic downward spiral, we need to take the bull by the horns and get back to the basics our parents and grandparents lived by. They understood that hard work paid dividends and they certainly had too much pride to sit back and wait for government handouts. They used hard work, pride and cooperation to build on their dreams.

My father, with his down-to-earth wisdom, often told me that nothing in life is free and we can only be sure of two things: we will pay taxes, and eventually we will die. This wisdom bears food for thought, especially when we consider the path our elected officials are leading us down.

We are only fooling ourselves if we believe the current stimulus package, now referred to as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, is a gift. The money must come from somewhere and it's a sure bet that it is not coming out of government surplus funds. So that leaves us with more taxes.

Ask yourself if the bank bailout of $850 billion reversed the economic crisis or protected the taxpayers.

All it did was increase the national debt level from $10 trillion to $11.3 trillion. If we're not careful, this could further weaken the economy in the months ahead. We need to understand that for every additional dollar our government prints, the value of every dollar already in circulation diminishes.

We've been promised that every dollar in this stimulus bill would go to boost the economy and create jobs. Yet, Congress has slipped $50 million into the bill for the National Endowment for the Arts, a quarter billion dollars to fix State Department computers, $200 million to spruce up the National Mall, and $670 million to rebuild restrooms and other buildings in national parks. And let's not forget the Speaker of the House, who is defending diverting $87 million from the stimulus package for expanding family planning services for Medicaid recipients. I can't bring myself to believe these actions represent a Congress working for us.

Instead of passing money out, Congress needs to enact policies that create incentives. They could start by lowering the tax rate on businesses. Ireland recently cut their business tax by a substantial percentage and a remarkable thing happened: new business startups in Ireland flourished. Perhaps another area to consider is interest free student loans. Faced with 25-year loans at 5% interest, college graduates are finding it extremely difficult to purchase a home or invest in a business. Instead of throwing money out to expand family planning services, we should consider bailing out our future leaders.

While this list could go on and on, I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on a stimulus package. Hopefully, you will keep out the pork. Wagyu steak, however, is acceptable.