Government Lobbying

How can public entities decry lobbying and then allow government departments to pay for lobbying and lobbyists.Something is wrong here.Mn. cities,countys,school districts and others spent 8.3 million in 2011,$55,000(.7 % )more than last year on lobbying;why and for what?The city of Mpls.spent $467,139,The coalition of Mn. cities-$822,239,The league of Mn. cities-$608,961,Mn School Boards Association -$606,961,Association of Metro School Districts-$280,981,etc.It sounds like they even pay their own employees extra to lobby,Can that be true?I hope not.That should be part of their jobs.Should government entities be spending money to get money?Can they logically justify doing that?

Bully?

Is Romney a bully?He obviously was as a youth.Has he changed?He became a corporate raider(now euphemistically called a private equity firm),and a corporate raider is really a bully.They act and look like a bully.They take over a company,sell the profitable  parts,lay off as many workers as they can,and leave the core without their profitable parts to sink or swim.That sounds like an act of a bully.I think he's still a bully.What do you think?

Corporate Greed

Ref:Newspaper article 3/01/12(Pioneer Press)
Is greed rampant in corporations?Wall Street figures are revelatory.Total corporate profits in 2010 were 27.6 billion;bonuses were22.9 billion(80%).In 2011 profits were 13.5 billion;bonuses-19.7 billion(146%).I other words,all of corporate profits go to upper employee bonuses.Does that indicate greed?And some want to let that same sector take care of social needs.In the "olden" days,part of company profits went to employees for heathcare and pensions.Today they charge employees for healthcare and provide 401K's in place of pensions and invest in areas that they can milk for profit until it suddenly becomes worthless(derivatives) and the employees are left with no pensions.In the end the corporations have much more profit for bonuses and the employees?Well,the private sector will keep caring for them as they have since greed began to dominate.

Austerity

Austere and austerity are interesting words to use and apply in an economic context.Austere means stern,cold,somber,grave,giving little or no scope for pleasure,ascetic.Austerity means enforced or extreme economy,ascetic practice.There is nothing wrong with practicing austerity,but enforced austerity should not be selective and should be enforced equally,don't you think?Austerity for the rich:no pensions,no health insurance,no corporate welfare.That would be different and extremely unlikely.

Revolt

Is it happening?Maybe it's happening:France,Greece,austerity rejection.Austerity is a euphemism for stealing from the poor and middle class and giving  to the rich,all the wealth to the wealthy.The peons pay for everything.But perhaps it's changing.Perhaps the revolt is beginning.Perhaps we can learn from Europe.In France and Greece,most of the money is concentrated in the hands of the few,too much to allow a life for everyone.It's happening here,has been for a long time,and getting progressively worse.Everyone can learn from Greece.

The rich are going to have to quit taking and give up some of their money,or it will have to be taken from them.It would be nice if we could do it through the political process.It can be done They have shown us how.That's how democracy is supposed to work.But we must do it.

Healthcare &contraception

I think that it would be wise for catholic employers to at least pay for contraceptives for priests and other leaders.There is a definite need for safe molestation.

Campaigns

Watching the Republican debates,though entertaining,immediately triggers alarm.It quickly becomes pretty obvious that our campaign system must be drastically changed.These candidates have nothing in common with the majority of citizens.They are all rich compared to the average.Why?Because the campaign system is designed that way.The entire system must be scrapped.How can we do that?It will be very difficult because the avenue of change has to bypass the governors.They don't want change.

Any discussion must also start from scratch.We,the general public,cannot be governed by only the rich.Rich people don't want you to become rich.They want you to keep them rich and richer.Could you even have a conversation with them?a normal conversation?What do you have in common?They simply don't have the same problems or interests as you do.

Watching the rich is like watching a movie about the rich.At some point you wonder about the basics.Don't these people work?How do they have the time?Where do they get their money?Don't they get sick?Don't they have the day to day problems thatconsume most of our time?Are their worries all abstract?

How can a campaigner simply go from place to place talking to people?Could you?Think about it.Work to them is getting money from you so that they don't have to work.How can they relate to you?How can someone that doesn't have to worry about survival tell you how to survive.

If you have the time to be a member of a group,organization,other than your own family-if even that is intact-how does that function?Include your family.Narrow it down to groups of friends,associates,strangers.How do they function?Do we have rich people with nothing in common organizing our activities,telling us how to do it.Of course not.Why should it be so difficult in government?Rich people will relate to rich people and rich people's problems...and they aren't the same as ours.

Representatives should be representative.Anyone should be able to run for public office.Anyone should be able to run for president.So we must not limit that possibility to only the rich.The general campaign fund originated to allow that appearance,but that didn't last long,did it?Well,lets go back to that premiss,but limit the candidates to that amount.Any candidate will have the same amount of money and be limited to that amount.That would be a start.

Length of campaigns is another issue.The campaign length must also be limited.That can be arbitrated,but it definitely shouldn't be longer than six months.We shouldn't stop rich people from campaigning on their own,but the actual campaign would be limited to amount and length:no outside campaign funds,pacs,tax deductible contributions,etc.-an equal playing field for all.But it must be equal!

This constant,continuous campaign must be corrected and it has to start with inflexible limits.The rest of the issues can be addressed later.Money and time have become the primary issues.

How can this be done?