Recycled BullshXX is still BullsXXX!

I recently received an email from a friend that had the title "545 Vs. 300,000,000". It piqued my attention and I was very curious to read it. It made a few decent points but nonetheless, being the semi-intelligent and reasonable person that I am, I decided to do a little fact checking. All of my information and writing is written in red. The original script is in black. Enjoy it and I hope that you come to your own resolutions.

545 vs. 300,000,000

(Interesting how this title suggests an ‘Us against them’ attitude)

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED (24 years ago when the speaker of the House was Tip O'Neil.)
IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years. (The same Charley Reese who was a conservative with many libertarian views, returned to the Democratic Party, after the presidency of George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), citing that the senior Bush brought the "Rockefeller Wing" into control of the GOP. He is STILL a registered DEMOCRAT as well as an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and an opponent of the War in Iraq. In 2004 he supported John Kerry’s presidential campaign.)

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign
against them..

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against
deficits, WHY do we have deficits? (maybe its because as one of the largest nations in the world, our economy is so complex and ever evolving that its hard to balance anything. Think how hard it is to balance your OWN checkbook. Or maybe its because its the way that Nobel Prize winning economist William Vickrey explains it. "The 'deficit' is not an economic sin but an economic necessity. Its most important function is to be the means whereby purchasing power not spent on consumption, nor recycled into income by the private creation of net capital, is recycled into purchasing power by government borrowing and spending. Purchasing power not so recycled becomes non-purchase, non-sales, non-production, and unemployment.)

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes,
WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The
House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices
equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million
(all 545 of which those 300 million people voted for)
are directly, legally, morally,
and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
(and by the way, only 54 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots during the last four decades of presidential elections. Compare that embarrassing number to Italy's 90 percent, Germany's 80 percent, France and Canada's 76 percent, Britain's 75 percent and Japan's 71 percent. We rank 35th in voter turnout out of the world's prominent democracies. So really, that 300 million number is more like 160 million.)

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created
by the Congress (who are representatives for us the people who elected them). In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a
sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no
legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a
president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician
$1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No
matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to
determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did
is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of
gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and
criticized the President for creating deficits.. The president can only propose a
budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to
the House of Representatives
(because the House of Representatives, REPRESENTS the will of the people who elected them)
for originating and approving appropriations and
taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the
majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any
budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they
agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million (actually, closer to 160 million) cannot replace 545 people
who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility.
(INCONCEIVABLE, that is, if you are uninformed, and don’t understand that those 545 people the 160 million voted for, were actually elected by the 160 million and chosen, by those same people, to make decisions on their behalf)
I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545
people.
(As a matter of fact I can’t think of any country that doesn’t have any domestic problems! Except maybe Disneyland and Utopia!)
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of
the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to
exist. (Which in turn must mean what the 160 million people who voted for them want to exist)

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they (and by they I mean WE) want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ
(Does anybody really still believe this?)

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not
available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose
jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to
regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this
power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists
disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that
prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. (I guess that makes economists more like people who study Mythology, since the economy is so “mystical” and politicians are like unicorns, since it is an equally mystical force)

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible (them and the 160 million people who voted for them).

They, and they alone, have the power (the power to do what we elected them to do).

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... (Hey? Didn’t we hire these employees?)

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! (Oh wait! We can do that now anyway!)

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper. (Who actually wrote this recycled piece in 1985 when the Speaker of the house was Tip O’Neil and the military went on UN missions instead of Iraq. For verification see ^ Orlando Sentinel Archives "Looking For Someone To Blame? Congress Is Good Place To Start". Charley Reese. March 7, 1995.)

What you do with this article now that you have read it......... Is up to you.

This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor, Tax his mule,(Really? Who has mules anymore?) Teach him taxes Are the rule.

Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts Anyway! Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if heTries to think.

Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries Tax his tears.

Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass. (Are you referring to the mule again?)

Tax all he has Then let him know That you won't be done Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers; Then tax him some more, Tax him till He's good and sore. Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid...

Put these words Upon his tomb,Taxes drove me to my doom...'

When he's gone,Do not relax, It’s time to apply The inheritance tax. Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax (Many governments have introduced excise taxes on cigarettes in order to reduce the consumption of cigarettes. Money collected from the cigarette taxes are frequently used to pay for tobacco use prevention programs, therefore making it a method of internalizing external costs)
Corporate Income Tax, Dog License Tax, Excise Taxes, Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), Fishing License Tax, Food License Tax, Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon), Gross Receipts Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax, Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Taxes, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Personal Property Tax, Property Tax Real Estate Tax Service Charge ,Tax Social Security, Tax Road Usage, Tax Sales Tax Recreational Vehicle, Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, Telephone Federal Tax, State and Local Surcharge Taxes Telephone Minimum Usage SurchargeTax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Taxes, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? (Not Really. Was this meant to be funny?) Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago
(maybe because 100 years ago we didn’t have most of these things),
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world (which it still is, unless you want to live in Dubai or Saudi Arabia)

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. (Are you implying women should stay home and just birf babies and be in the kitchen barefoot? Oh, you are going to piss a lot of women off with that one!)

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?' (I can, because I went to school)
And I still have to 'press 1' for English!? (Now that’s just nasty. Really? You had to go all Lou Dobbs on us? Do you really want to pay $30 for a salad at the Olive Garden?)

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!