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botiasWarren Buffet, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971... before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no
pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS
If you agree with the above, pass it on.
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971... before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no
pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS
If you agree with the above, pass it on.
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-21 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-21 05:35 pm (UTC)Current events have made me skeptical of 'highly placed economists'. I'm sure there were many during the 1980's and 1990's that argued for the dismantling the financial protections that would have prevented the financial crisis. Perhaps they thought they were archaic in a modern economy or that such restrictions would be devastating to American competitiveness.
Further, such deficits are most often created by war. If such a law made our country much less likely to engage in war, it would be a wonderful boon in my opinion. While I deeply honor the men and women who serve, I am less excited about the motives of the people in power who send them to fight and kill. Too many of our country's wars have been wars of conquest and ideology, not defending our nation, though it's always sold to the public in deeply patriotic terms.
That being said:
The power to run a deficit greater that 3% of GDP might very well be a vital economic tool during economic downturns, and putting it off the table could be devastating.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-22 03:14 am (UTC)That said Warren Buffet makes some excellent points, particularly about health care and about labor laws!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 02:08 am (UTC)It's too bad. I'm really warming up to the idea of a Congress unable to fund a war that they wouldn't personally give up their chance at re-election for.
Not that I'm disagreeing that Congress is out of touch...
Date: 2011-10-28 12:24 am (UTC)All Congresspeople elected since 1983 DO participate in Social Security, exactly like all other Americans. A few of the old-timers that were elected before that are on the old civil service system, which had more generous pensions, but no participation in SS.
Likewise, pension system eligibility, investiture, and amount works just like it does for all Federal employees, except that Congresspeople currently pay MORE toward their pensions than do military and civilian Federal employees. I happen to think all Feds should pay more toward their pensions (and the budget reform is likely to make that happen), but that's a different argument.
Finally, Congress has the same health care plan as all other Federal employees, although they do have access to on-site medical care (convenient). The health care plan is very good for a lot of things (not dental, which is basically nonexistent), but it's not free by any means.
Congresspeople, just like all Federal employees, DO have the option to participate in a private retirement plan (a 401K equivalent). It functions exactly like a standard company 401k, and Congress can contribute the legal limit of $16,500/year (with $5500 catch-up contributions if they are over 50). Exactly like many Americans that work in the private sector. This was instituted during the 1983 budget overhaul, when Federal pensions were also reduced and Feds began to participate in Social Security.
My point is that if you want to pick on Congress about those points, you are actually picking on the whole Federal workforce, which might or might not be the intent behind this meme.