Musings

Its been six weeks or so since my last entry. I have been busy working and just have not had a desire to write about anything, although there are world's of thing to write about.

The work is one reason, of course. There are so many things that I have to be very careful about. Straight talk about some matters is verboten. The PC police are out there, and I cannot offend anyone except for white male Republicans, rednecks, and the State of Israel. Everyone and everything else seems to be protected and off limits for straight talk. The result is that I have to write on a very straight line. That takes a lot of the fun out of it.

One of the things that I can and have written on is the energy situation. There will be more, but not in this entry. Suffice it to say that the stupidity of our leaders in the Congress never fails to amaze me.

Back when I started this blog, I made up a folder on my computer called "Corruption in Congress" and started saving information about that subject, with the intention of writing a short piece on it. After several months, I just quit. There was so much information about corrupt members that it overwhelmed me. I don't have time to write a book on the subject, but to cover the entire story would take multiple volumes.

The problem, of course, is money. It takes millions of dollars to run for Congress, more millions for the Senate, and hundreds of millions to run for President. While some may come from Joe Sixpack, the real big bucks come from big money folks who have a real interest in policies of the government. Now some of this interest is benign. But much is not.

The more powerful a Congressman or Senator, the more money he gets. Congressmen serving on the Ways and Means Committee get huge donations from those with big interests in tax policy. Does this "buy" influence? You decide. But consider why our tax code is so complex. And why a simplified "flat tax" cannot get any interest up there. If everyone were treated the same, there would be no special interest money for the Congress. That money goes to buy special treatment, and special treatment for many multiples of interests make the tax code very complex.

Make the same analysis for yourselves with each committee and each Congressman or Senator. Also consider the so-called "earmarks" which are basically using your money to buy votes in most instances.

Its a wonder that Congress' approval rating is as high as it is at 14%.