Many random thoughts for now. It is always difficult to do something between doing other things so a  post can be behind the times. I am still upset about our self serving senate. How can they push for the tax breaks for the smallest group of citizens and hold hostage everything else to get something that benefits such a small group of people. Some people say they need these tax breaks to create jobs or stimulate our economy. Personal income tax on the super rich is not going to stop job creation unless they our using this as motiviation to do something with their corporations, but really: that ain't the reason. Job creation is done by corporations and businesses having a reason to create them, ie a robust econnomy. Until we get a better economy they are not going to just create jobs. So giving into the pressure of a group of senators who probably fit into this income tax bracket is just political crap.

We need to give real tax breaks to endeavors that spur economic growth. There are a few measures and tax breaks out there for now, but they are not strong enough. Corporations AND small businesses should be given incentitves to create new industries and new products. Especially products we can export. We need to create a balance of trade by producing again, not by putting tariffs on other countries goods.

Right now Wall Street lobbies our Congress to get laws passed to benefit Wall Street. This self serving attitude is not good for business. Congress needs to stay away from programs and lobbyists that do not benefit the country at large.

I always struggle with the concept of lobbyists. Are they evil, are they productive, who do they benefit, do they push legislation forward, and other questions always bang around in my head everytime I hear the term. Our Congress needs to step back from them at this time though and take a real hard look at what this country needs. I think most people agree lobbyists add size to any legislation because they make sure the interests of the industries or groups they represent are protected.

Another road block to our Congress being able to produce effective legislation is most known from the phrase "all politics is local". This is a real benefit to the country in many cases, but with the self serving Congress we have had over the last few decades it is a major problem. Okay how do you explain this thought. Rather difficult, but here goes. We divided our legislative branch into two sections, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Some of the thinking behind this is to create equal representation of the people by having the House represent the population differences. A state with a large population would get better representation of all its needs at the national level, but to balance the government so that only a few populus states would get all the national benefits the Senate was created with equal representation from each state. Or everyone would be equally representated in the House and each state would be equally representated in the Senate. This was created to create balance in how Congress as a whole would like at national issues. Both Houses of Congress would have to agree to pass a bill. Basic 7th/8th grade government info.

The issue becomes what happens when other factors get involved. A Congressman can represent his/her constituency only when their time is spent on issues that affect their constituency. Once lobbyists started becoming a new type of constituency Congress becomes pulled into too many directions. What happens, well Congress men and women are people, they will grativate towards the group most helping them: lobbyists. I am not just talking about money for campaigning, (but this is an issue) however, rather their ability to work day to day with Congress basically bypassing the true constituency of Congress the people of the country. Even if lobbyists were not allowed to give a penny to help someone get elected they way the system is set up today they would still have much more influence on Congress than they should because of the proximty and day to day contact they have with Congress. What does this do. well the obvious Congress relies on these groups for information and support in planning and producing legislation. So legislation is long, unresponsive to the full needs of the people, cumbersome, unproductive and I could go on forever with basically a ton of words to say unprodutive to the well being of the country.

Trying to tie this together. Sometimes I get into the idea that all lobbyists should be banned forever, which is an extreme reaction to a solvable problem. But for now I will tackle that issue another day. The issue for now is obvious, but eludes me as to why we don't get it done. The people need to hold Congress accountable for their actions, however, for some reason 98% of this country let this go by like it doesn't matter. Some people may say it doesn't, they say why do I care if someone who makes more money than me gets a tax break and well here goes what seems to be a contradiction: it doesn't. What matters is the fact that the Senate held hostage the political process of the greater good of the country to benefit such a small part of the population. The fact that they got away with it is more scarier than most Americans seem to understand. Basically everything Congress is suppose to do was thrown out the window so a very small group of people will benefit more than the rest of the country. Yes everyone else got a tax break too, but what is more important which is getting our economy started again was not even addressed in all these negotiations, the President succumbed so he could get a small victory with unemployment benefits and the middle class tax break, but even his victory is small compared to the loss of the greater good of our country. I am not referring to the rich vs poor issue etc,but how lobbyists and small benefactors have taken representation away from the people.

Sooner or later the people need to realize their needs should come first or you can forget about every sacrifice every soldier has made defending our ideals. And most people won't like me saying that, but it is the truth. People died defending freedom and our democracy, but we give it up at home so easy.

I want to talk more about the unemployment situation in another post.