Congress may actually pass an economic stimulus bill this week, which is good news for the short-term needs of the country. There is no question the economy is tottering, and could easily tip over from recession to depression, so a bill that focuses on saving jobs and creating jobs is desperately needed. The good news is that the bill will definitely help achieve some of those aims. The bad news is that it will lay a crushing debt burden on taxpayers for the future, which can only be addressed if government becomes far more efficient in the use of tax dollars than it has in the past. That could very well force, down the road, what many of us have wanted for years, a smaller, more efficient government. But somehow, that doesn't seem likely. Because Congress hasn't figured out that the model for government is, and should be, changing. And the best example is the stimulus package. Despite billions of dollars in cuts, it still contains way too much pork. And some of the cuts (to make way for that pork) seem to make no sense, such as dropping $40 billion to help keep schools from having to fire teachers. That's counter-productive. The bill is supposed to save or create jobs, not leave them threatened. Both sides of the aisle bear the blame. The Democratic leadership rolled over on way too many pet projects among its members, losing sight of the long-term goal of the bill. And Republicans kept insisting on sticking to the same failed policies of the past, and playing the same old games where personal and party political power carried more weight than the needs of the nation. One GOP leader actually admitted his goal for the bill, and the amendments he introduced, were designed to divide the Democrats and make them look bad. So much for caring about the people of this country. Both parties should be ashamed. It is time for Congress to look up from its myopic and petty party power games, and its proclivity for pork, and look at the desperate state of the nation, focusing solely on programs that stand a good chance of meeting the goal of keeping people working. Making things work should be a bipartisan issue. This bill should be about America, not the Republican or Democratic parties. -- Kelly Everitt

It's about the attitude

Posted Wednesday, June 5, 2013, at 8:07 AM

In the history of mankind, no one has ever liked the tax collector.

Taxes are a necessary part of government, but in the United States we expect those who collect our money to do so fairly, honestly, uniformly, without prejudice and with at least a little compassion and a lot of understanding about where that money comes from.

Over the last two years, at least, the IRS has failed in that charge.

It's not just the targeting of Tea Party groups. Anybody who claims that use of the search engine phrase Tea Party to red flag those groups wasn't targeting is being completely ridiculous.

Of course they were targeted. There even were a few liberal groups targeted (MoveOn.org, for example), but mainly they were politically conservative groups. It's almost become a badge of honor for those groups (like being a Democrat on the Nixon "enemies list").

It's not that it wouldn't have been appropriate to take a look at the applications that were scrutinized. They were hoping to get tax exempt status, but the provision they were seeking says the groups can't be political advocacy organizations (among other things). Let's face it, the chance that MoveOn.org and the Tea Party groups weren't going to advocate for some political policy were low. A lot would have normally been rejected.

It's just that, in the process, they should have been handled like everyone else, not have their applications targeted and harassed. That was what was so fundamentally wrong. They weren't treated equal.

We expect our elected and appointed leaders to know the difference between right and wrong. When they don't seem to care, it's a slap in the face to every citizen of this great land.

Secondly, the IRS was throwing away our hard-earned money hand over fist. It's not just $60,000 for a bunch of stupid videos. That's not even a decent drop in the federal government's bucket. And it's not even the $50 million they spent to send 2,700 (3 percent) of their employees to conventions and conferences. That averages out to $18,518.52 per employee, which by any standard is a pretty plush, presidential suite type of junket. That's 20 percent more, for a few days at a convention, than a taxpayer on minimum wage makes working 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year. That's outrageous. No, it's the principle of the thing. They're our servants, not our masters.

No matter how important you may think you are in the federal government, it's not your money. You can stay at a Holiday Inn or Motel 6 like most of the rest of us. If you want to upgrade to a presidential suite, it should come out of your own pocket.

The real crime in all of this is the attitude behind these excesses. It says that the people at the IRS see the average American as something that can be ignored, where their power over people can be misused without any feeling of consequence or remorse.

None of these excesses can be excused. You can pass all the laws you want, but until the attitude gets changed, you'll just have variations on the same theme through whatever loopholes get left.

No, this is not a case for slaps on the wrist or being told to go sit in a corner. The people who thought this stuff was appropriate are not public servants. -- that's a special trust, not to be abused. These people should be fired.

-- Kelly Everitt

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Yes, I agree. too many of these public servants view the taxpayer as an unlimited cash cow. ironically, if we just took the waste and excess of what the goverment spends for the first year, our deficit would shrink down considerably. And no one who really needs the help would have to suffer or our military would not be short-changed either.

Instead, we have an arrogance in our country that cannot be defined as Republican or Democrat. I would suggest that it should be labeled the Arrogant and Greedy Party.

If we can do without trips, parties or extras, then everyone else who is being supported by tax dollars should too.

Make each of them wear signs that indicate how much of the taxpayer money that they have squandered these past 2o years and stand on each street corner of their states to let the public know the appalling stupidity and greed that they have brokered for their own personal gain.

And make the media accountable for their selective reporting on the issues. We are being robbed blind by a small group of individuals who think that our pockets will never empty.

-- Posted by KH Gal on Wed, Jun 5, 2013, at 2:24 PM

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