Congress.

The blatant bribery of Congress should not be tolerated. Just because Congress calls it Lobbying doesn't change the fact that it is plainly and simply, bribery.

If you had the ability to affect decisions that would put millions or billions of dollars into the pockets of millionaires, billionaires and multi billion dollar companies and you took money from those people or companies and acted upon that power, you would, rightly, go to prison.

But Congress doesn't work that way, they routinely take millions of dollars in bribes every day, and it is perfectly legal, because they, Congress, says that it is OK, for THEM to do that - but not you or me! Congress calls it Lobbying. Any court in the land would call it bribery which is punishable by heavy fines and/or imprisonment. If you took a bribe or a kickback to award a job to a company, what you would be doing would be illegal, but not Congress.

The Health Industry pays Congress one million dollars a DAY in bribes, sorry in lobbying, would you not call that bribery? Most people and courts would if it were you or me doing it.

Now, that is just the Health Industry. (Note - a FOR PROFIT industry.) Not the Health SERVICE as in ANY other civilized country in the world. America is the only country in the world that has a FOR PROFIT Health Industry.

There are HUNDREDS of companies that routinely bribe Congress. They are falling over each other to give them money. Why? Isn't it obvious, they can make or break anyone, by giving them access to government billions, in work, or in subsidies. Companies like Exxon corporation that made $50 BILLION dollars in PROFITS last year and paid NO tax, not one cent in tax! And even more outrageous is the fact that they received SUBSIDIES! Subsidy may just be a word to you, but if you think about it a little you will realize that all of the money that the US Congress spends comes from us. That means that Congress, in return for bribes from Exxon, is giving Exxon, a company that made $50 BILLION in PROFITS and paid NO tax last year, SUBSIDIES from money that YOU paid in taxes!

Yep, Congress thinks that it is fine for big companies to pay no tax, in return for bribes of course, while you pay plenty in taxes. Oh, and in case you didn't catch it the first time, they then take those taxes that you worked hard for and then paid over to Congress, for them, in their wisdom, to give to big profitable corporations. Who in turn give it to their CEO's and other executive officers in salary and bonuses. So your tax can routinely go to pay a CEO's salary and bonuses in the $50 MILLION dollar area! And you can bet your bippy that those CEO's pay way less in taxes on their $50 million than you do on your $50,000. While the average American pays 30% of his income in taxes, the top 1% of Americans pay only 16% in taxes!

Just for good measure here's another annoying fact, the top 1% of Americans own 50% of its wealth. That leaves the other 99% of us to share the other 50%!

Again, just in case it has not occurred to you, most of the members of Congress are among that top 1%. So don't expect them to be doing anything about the situation that makes 99% of us share half of everything while 1% get the other half!

And we want to CUT taxes to the rich! Now, how do they get us to go along with that? Virtually all Republicans, which is about half of the country, and even some Democrats want us to cut taxes to the rich! The latest Republican plan is to cut Social Security by 10% and, are you ready for this, give it to the rich! Yes, they want to cut the top tax rate of 35% (Already the lowest top tax rate of any country in the world) to 29%. No mention of putting the money that would be taken from the poorest among us towards the National Debt, just giving it to the rich, who would suffer not at all.

So, imagine this scenario, you have a young man with Cerebral Palsy who cannot walk or talk, (No he is not lazy and won't work. His disability is no fault of his. His father probably left his mother, so she is taking care of him. As it is a full time job to dress him, feed him watch him etc she is unable to work. Again not because she is lazy, because she is unfortunate enough to be in that position. A nightmare for anyone. Think about it for a few minutes - it could happen to you.) Now, the Republican answer to our unfortunate position, almost entirely the fault incidentally of the Republicans, is to reduce his disability payment of $15,000 per YEAR by 10% ($1,500) and GIVE IT TO THE RICH!!! This is going to solve our problems - NOT! This young man did not cause our problems. But he is going to be punished, and money that is vital to him for any kind of help to his condition is going to be given to people that DID cause our problems - bankers, wall street types, millionaires etc. So some guy who "makes" a million dollars a year is going to be given the $1,500 that will be taken from our unfortunate young man and his mother.

When our Founding Fathers set up Congress I don't think they intended Congressmen to have a "Job for life." They should SERVE for one term and then go back to their regular life.

And how's this for an idea? When a Congressman goes into office he should have his/her Net Worth determined before entering office and then again when he/she leaves, and if it is more when they leave they should have to account for every penny.

There are plenty of honest citizens of character who would be happy to serve their country for one term without thought of massive "Reward". A modest salary and perhaps a small pension should suffice.

I'd be happy to discuss this with anyone who would like to call me and talk about it.

David.