Behind The Scenes

I read this past week, from October statistics, that over five million people are on unemployment. This doesn't count anyone who has moved on to receive extensions beyond the limit allowed per person. My dilemma...I don't know whether to be thankful or upset that Congress voted to extend benefits. I think I'll settle for frightened.

Most folks pay into unemployment, but certainly those coffers ran out long ago. Consider only the five million mentioned in the article, and not those receiving extended benefits. Using what my husband received for the weeks he was without work, I'll enter $268.00 per week as a figure to work with. Now multiply this times fifty-two weeks in a year, then multiply that by five million individuals. Where is the government finding the money? And why are we being encouraged by a climbing stock market and rising financial reports? False courage according to U.S. News.com:

So are job losses good for the stock market? Actually, yes. At least for awhile. Stocks are rising because many companies are earning more money than analysts have expected. But earnings aren't up because companies are selling more stuff; most companies are still selling less stuff and grappling with falling revenue. Instead, earnings are rising because companies have cut their costs more than revenues have fallen. And "costs" are often the same as "jobs."

While I honestly am thankful that struggling Americans are finding help when jobs are simply just not there, I wonder how much more the government can pile on to the ever growing debt pile?

We owe our future to China, now the current administration wants to add anyone fifty-five and over to Medicare. I'm over fifty-five, but reports prior to health care reform showed this government-run agency already in financial despair...on the brink of ruin, actually. How is adding millions more bodies to the numbers going to help.

And the basis for reform is high medical costs. Ask any doctor who drove up the costs. The Government. If you've ever researched the ridiculous amounts of money they pay for anything, you might not be so surprised that we're in the mess we're in. Grants to study ridiculous topics, and things like this:

Medicare wastes more money than any other federal program, yet its strong public support leaves lawmakers hesitant to address program effi­ciencies, which cost taxpayers and Medicare recip­ients billions of dollars annually.

For example, Medicare pays as much as eight times what other federal agencies pay for the same drugs and medical supplies.[6] The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently com­pared the prices paid by Medicare and the Depart­ment of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care program for 16 types of medical equipment and supplies, which account for one-quarter of Medicare’s equip­ment and supplies purchases. The evidence showed that Medicare paid an average of more than double what the VA paid for the same items. The largest difference was for saline solution, with Medicare paying $8.26 per liter compared to the $1.02 paid by the VA.

OR THIS:

Unused Flight Tickets Totaling $100 Million

A recent audit revealed that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department purchased and then left unused approximately 270,000 commercial airline tickets at a total cost of $100 million. Even worse, the Pentagon never bothered to get a refund for these fully refundable tickets. The GAO blamed a system that relied on department personnel to notify the travel office when purchased tickets went unused.

The government has been overly generous with money for years and years. The spending frivolity is finally catching up, and it hurts us all.

I urge you, when it's time to vote, clean house. It's time to stop the hemorrhaging and get career politicians out of Congress and the Senate and on the unemployment lines with the rest of America. Let them see how their actions have affected this nation.

Okay...going to take my blood pressure meds now. :)