Comments on: America Loses as Congress Wins Golden Fleece Award http://www.thelangreport.com/golden-fleece-awards/america-loses-as-congress-wins-golden-fleece-award/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=america-loses-as-congress-wins-golden-fleece-award Sat, 21 May 2011 16:22:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: majog http://www.thelangreport.com/golden-fleece-awards/america-loses-as-congress-wins-golden-fleece-award/comment-page-1/#comment-226887 majog Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:14:39 +0000 http://www.thelangreport.com/golden-fleece-awards/america-loses-as-congress-wins-golden-fleece-award/#comment-226887 Cutting $100 Billion is not the hard part. It is dealing with all the pork that continues to slide through the congressional budget grinder. In 2007 alone(latest easy to find figures, we gave out almost 30 Billion in non-military economic aid. That included 2.5 Billion to Israel, 393 Million to South Africa, and 1.6 Billion to Russia. Why are we giving money to economically stable countries? A large chunk of the rest went to countries like Egypt, Iraq, and the Philippines that hate us and our presence? Now look at wasted government spending. For JAN 2010, the Oregon Department of Corrections spend nearly $1 million on free satellite television service for prisoners. Heck who is paying for the taxpayers television. I live in the country and can’t even get the satellite company to grant me the FOX channel access due to “government regulations”. Other fleece winners include: Wooden arrows: This tax break, backed by Oregon’s two senators, would benefit an Oregon manufacturer of wooden arrows for children by $2 million over 10 years. Racetracks: Earmark would allow auto racetrack owners to depreciate their facilities over seven years, saving the industry $100 million over two years. Rum: Offers rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate on excise taxes worth $192 million over two years. Wool: Reduces tariffs for U.S. makers of wool fabric that use imported yarn, worth $148 million over five years. The measure was pushed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Melissa Bean, D-Ill. Exxon Valdez: Plaintiffs in the suit over the 1989 oil spill could spread their tax payments on punitive damages over three years, cutting their tax bill by $49 million. The measure was backed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. In all it is estimated that in the 2009 Fiscal Year over $100 Billion went to such useless spending. So cutting $100 Billion is nothing. We also need to decide once and for all if America is going to be a socialized nation or a democratic republic. We keep acting like a socialized nation but funding every socialized program from life insurance (Social Security) to healthcare (Medicare/Medicaid) just cloaking it under different names. There is nothing wrong with being a socialized country but let’s just get it on the table then then get something for all the taxation that we are under. America is still the greatest nation on the planet and I would not want to live anywhere else (and have lived all over the world). It just run by self-serving individuals who are more interested in power brokering and what is in it for them than running a country. They should take lessons from the leaders of successful companies and learn fiscal responsibility. They should stop legislating about things they know nothing about (i.e. healthcare) and focus on the basics of government like ensuring America has a strong infrastructure and take care if its own people before trying to take care of the rest of the world. Just my 2 cents as a voting citizen. Cutting $100 Billion is not the hard part. It is dealing with all the pork that continues to slide through the congressional budget grinder. In 2007 alone(latest easy to find figures, we gave out almost 30 Billion in non-military economic aid. That included 2.5 Billion to Israel, 393 Million to South Africa, and 1.6 Billion to Russia. Why are we giving money to economically stable countries? A large chunk of the rest went to countries like Egypt, Iraq, and the Philippines that hate us and our presence?
Now look at wasted government spending. For JAN 2010, the Oregon Department of Corrections spend nearly $1 million on free satellite television service for prisoners. Heck who is paying for the taxpayers television. I live in the country and can’t even get the satellite company to grant me the FOX channel access due to “government regulations”. Other fleece winners include: Wooden arrows: This tax break, backed by Oregon’s two senators, would benefit an Oregon manufacturer of wooden arrows for children by $2 million over 10 years.
Racetracks: Earmark would allow auto racetrack owners to depreciate their facilities over seven years, saving the industry $100 million over two years.
Rum: Offers rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate on excise taxes worth $192 million over two years.
Wool: Reduces tariffs for U.S. makers of wool fabric that use imported yarn, worth $148 million over five years. The measure was pushed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Melissa Bean, D-Ill.
Exxon Valdez: Plaintiffs in the suit over the 1989 oil spill could spread their tax payments on punitive damages over three years, cutting their tax bill by $49 million. The measure was backed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.
In all it is estimated that in the 2009 Fiscal Year over $100 Billion went to such useless spending. So cutting $100 Billion is nothing. We also need to decide once and for all if America is going to be a socialized nation or a democratic republic. We keep acting like a socialized nation but funding every socialized program from life insurance (Social Security) to healthcare (Medicare/Medicaid) just cloaking it under different names. There is nothing wrong with being a socialized country but let’s just get it on the table then then get something for all the taxation that we are under.
America is still the greatest nation on the planet and I would not want to live anywhere else (and have lived all over the world). It just run by self-serving individuals who are more interested in power brokering and what is in it for them than running a country. They should take lessons from the leaders of successful companies and learn fiscal responsibility. They should stop legislating about things they know nothing about (i.e. healthcare) and focus on the basics of government like ensuring America has a strong infrastructure and take care if its own people before trying to take care of the rest of the world.

Just my 2 cents as a voting citizen.

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