Thinking Out Loud - Congress Poised to Steal More Money from Americans

This is the plaintive cry of average citizens and the fake echo of lawmakers. The rampant and rabid blatherings of people who have never worked on bonus or commission their entire lives nor have any understanding of how it works is infecting the general population. Those that have not want to flay those that have alive.

Am I not angry at the recent bonuses served up to executives at AIG? Of course I am. But my anger is directed at the fact that AIG has taken taxpayer money because they failed. What has tempered my anger is not knowing what the circumstances of these "contractually obligated" bonuses are for. Though I cannot fathom how someone may have performed well enough to receive such bonuses and yet allow AIG to have slumped to the point of insolvency, I also wonder if the failure of AIG was at a level beyond the profits the company may have made. In other words, it is possible that these employees performed at the levels they were contracted for yet the company made many unsound financial decisions with the money they made.

If this is the case, then how can we simply tax away the income (often the only income they receive) these people have rightly earned. If the bonuses these executives earned does not reflect their actual performance, then by all means we deserve to be outraged. And the company deserves to be compelled to adjust to fit the truth.

But no one is asking this question. No one cares about this issue. They just want to be angry because the free ride Obama promised millions of America is threatened by other people accumulating wealth the old fashioned way. (As John Houseman said, "they earned it.")

And the politicians are right on top of the pulse of America's outrage.

Here is thing I have issue with, however. The House just passed legislation to take away 90% of the bonuses earned by these and other people within companies that received bailout money. And this is WRONG. Have issue with the companies and the heads of these companies, not with the hard working employees of these companies. Look into and restructure how the company pays its employees, maybe. But do not steal, yes I said steal, money these people may have legitimately earned.

If we allow Congress to get away with passing this bill, a bill designed to respond to the outrage of the citizens without looking at the legal or ethical ramifications, they where will it stop. What if people are outraged at Rush Limbaugh, or Hannity or valentine or Boortz, that they attack their unassailable leader. What if they ask, 'how can these people actually make money questioning our President or Congress?' And what if Congress decides the people are right and they tax these pundits? Further, what if they ask how ANY person can question their government, so they tax the life out of ALL people who dare question the government and get in the way of making 'needed changes' to America?

When will it stop? Outrageous you say? Don't you think that one year ago today you might have thought the idea of nationalizing the banks would be an outrageous idea? According to a recent poll by Newsweek, 56% of Americans favor nationalizing banks.

This is outrageous and needs to be stopped. Senate members need to be flooded with calls from truly angry people who will not allow this kind of floodgate to be opened. To put this in perspective by those who still can't see what it has to do with them, I also submit this little tidbit. This tax is being imposed by a group of people who have allowed their own salaries to be increased in this highly turbulent point in American history. Each rank and file member of Congress is poised to see another $4,700 in his or her paycheck over the next year, an increase of 2.8 percent over their current $169,300 annual salary.

Now if this isn't a true item we should be outraged about than I don't know what is. So call! Email! Write! Go down to their offices and protest! Stop the madness before it is allowed to go any further! Join a Tea Party protest! March around the district offices of your local legislature! And it is Republican, Democrat, Liberal and Conservative lawmakers alike who are perpetrating this deception.

Be outraged! But be outraged by the right thing and aim it at the right people. It is not the average person in America who is just trying to make money to put foods on the plate and a roof over the head of their families. It is the politician who is, as Rahm Emanuel once quipped, not letting a "good crisis go to waste."

Agree with me, disagree with me. Say I have gone too far or not gone far enough. Either way, it makes no difference to me so long as you start thinking for yourself. This is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day!

Sources:NewsWeekhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/188002

Citizens Against Government Waste
http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11784&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=CCAGW_http://www.apassionforwriting.com/blog