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Todays Young person is tomorrows Elderly.

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Why does it seem in America that the elderly are cast aside like an outdated iPad or unwanted pair of shoes? The elderly has so much wisdom from all the years of experience their long life has given them. They have so much to give and yet a lot of  people want to put them in rest homes and make it harder for them to have employment or a sense of purpose in life. Our Elderly is as much of a national resource if not treasure as our children are. We should show them great gratitude for the things they have done, accomplished and have lived to see in their lifetime. There are some older people who could survive in a disaster situation far better than a great part of the younger generation due to their knowledge and experience. Some are still around that lived during the depression, world war 2 and Korean war eras. They lived during times of economic struggle and learned to live off the land as well on a very limited finances. They lived without heat, air conditioning and sometimes even modern transportation. They were from the time in America that one had to have true grit to survive and a backbone to work or to find food. Not even our government seems to care about our elderly they always want to mess with Medicare, Medicaid and social security. I guess when you make the money that those in congress do you don’t have to worry about such things because your pretty well off. Just remember that those elderly people are fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters to someone out there and they have served society through out their lives. The deserve respect and have the right to dignity as well as a purpose in life. I know for the most part this is a younger persons world but if it wasn’t for the elderly we wouldn’t have the world we have or at least the achievements and technological advances anyway. The elderly are the ones they built this great nation and the many nations around the world. Some of the elderly could actually still help build the future world to come if we were to have the wisdom to allow them to take part.

 

 

 

“Todays Young person is tomorrows Elderly.”

Raymond Barbier

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Our welfare system is broken and inefficient

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IMG_1077 I sit here listening to the rants and raves of our political leaders. Seems anything that benefits the common people its labeled communism or socialism but if it benefits the rich it is accepted with little objection. I agree we shouldn’t be a welfare state and that there is a lot of work that needs to be done to the welfare system in America. I see too many people taking advantage of food stamps, welfare and many other programs while so many who really need the help are denied any help. They wonder why our federal and state governments are in debt and seem to want to blame social security, Medicaid or Medicare. The elderly deserve those benefits since they paid into them all of their lives but yet I see so many who never work (and are perfectly able to) receive food stamps, housing, gas cards and welfare. Does this mean we should stop helping those who are really in need? I think not, I believe we need to investigate and monitor recipients at random to confirm they are not abusing the system.

What really bothers me is what a friend told me, he worked at a local grocery store and saw a woman who bought 250.00 dollars of a name brand soda with her food stamp card and she sold it to the small gas station down the road, when he called it in to the state he was told there was nothing they could do because its al hear say. More or less they didn’t care or didn’t want to bother doing anything about the food stamp fraud. Since then I have seen other people doing the same thing both buying with food stamps and selling the soda to a gas station (for half price) . There are so many ways they can take advantage of the food stamp system its just crazy that we don’t have a task force out there to stop such abuse.

Recently they at least passed a bill to allow random drug testing of food stamp recipients so at least they are trying to find ways to weed out some of the abuse of food stamp. Now don’t get me wrong I am a strong supporter of programs such as food stamps, government housing and welfare for those who truly need it and don’t abuse it. For “We the people” are the backbone of this great nation and we should take care of our needy, handicapped and elderly. If we look upon any social class, race, religious sect or individual as expendable or undeserving of the basic rights guaranteed by our constitution then we are not the great nation our founding fathers created. Our welfare system is broken and inefficient and needs an overhaul and definitely we need to find a way to make sure there is little to no abuse of the benefits it provides.

The only way we may find solutions to the current financial crises that our nation is when the republicans and democrats realize that compromise along with sacrifice is the only way to get things done. Until then we will see more and more people sink into poverty if not become jobless and homeless. Lucky for our politicians they have a guaranteed job and retirement along with a good health plan and a salary paid by all of us. I guess that’s one reason they seem to be apathetic and unconcerned about the urgency of the problems at hand. They all seem more worried about campaigning and playing politics than about trying to come up with solutions to the current problems before us as a nation.

 

 

Well enough ranting for now, Right or wrong that’s my 2 cents worth today.

Raymond Barbier

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With a fair and balanced solution

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The western front of the United States Capitol...

A Indecisive and argumentative congress along with all the political rhetoric is creating problems all across the board. The inability of our congress to come to a reasonable and balanced decision on how to balance the budget is effecting not only the credit ratings of The U.S. it is also effecting the stock market and the national economical growth. Our Congress needs to put aside political ideologies and get over the fear of making unpopular decisions so they can concentrate on the problems at hand. It will probably take a combination of spending cuts and the increasing of tax revenues to bail our selves out of this financial hole our government is in. Warren Buffet even made a statement supporting the idea of taxing the extremely rich (those who have earnings above 1 million dollars a year).

In the end it always comes down to the middle class as the ones to carry the largest part of the burden financially when it comes to stabilizing the economy and in paying taxes. Even though the tax increases might be focused on the rich it usually trickles down to the middle class consumer and worker in one form or another. This is a sad fact of the reality of capitalism and our nations financial system.  To be honest being a lower middle class person myself I do not mind a slight tax increase in order to keep the entitlements such as social security and Medicaid / Medicare alive for our seniors. There is a few things we can do as Americans to help get our country back on track, things such as buying saving bonds, treasury bills and investing in the stock market. The Congress needs to grow up and face reality as well as put aside their political differences to get the job done when it comes to our national debt.

Buying U.S. T-bills is a very patriotic and sound investment. By buying T-Bills you are buying up American debt, this takes away from the debt that other countries own and helps finance our own government. To be honest I know our country is going to be debt for a very long time and I would rather the debt be owned by fellow Americans than any other nation. If we are going to look to the federal government to take care of all the woes and needs of our great nation we have the responsibility to help finance such measures. Like it or not any governmental intervention, subsidy and or entitlement has a price tag attached to it. We can not expect great things without having a some sort of price attached. So we either need to cut the fat and have less help from our federal government or we have to pay higher taxes in order to maintain the programs in place. The option of doing a little of both is also possible but it seems that our government is too caught up in their politics to be able to come up with a fair and balanced solution.

 

Well that is my two cents worth on the economy and what is going on today.
Wrong or right, It is here for all to see.

 

Peace and Love to All
Raymond Barbier

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Congress Needs to Get a Grip

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united states currency seal - IMG_7366_web

Once again the congress is in the process of taking away more benefits from our seniors. They always seem to aim at the seniors when it comes to budget cuts. Medicaid and Medicare are an important part o a seniors ability to financially survive. The fat health insurance is still unaffordable for the average Joe and the retired middle class it makes no sense to cut the Medicaid and Medicare programs. There are so many programs the congress can cut besides the programs that we have paid for through the F.I.C.A / Social Security taxes. To be honest I would rather pay a little bit more out of my paycheck to keep Medicare, Medicaid and social security off the cutting block in congress.

We may have to impose a national sales tax that only applies to luxury items similar to the V.A.T. of Europe to help deal with the national debt. The congress really needs to put aside their political parties agendas and get down to business. A big part of our economical problem is that the United States has became too much of a consumer economy. We consume far ore than we produce, most of the product bought in the U.S. is from foreign countries. We need to make it more profitable for companies to produce in the U.S. and American products more affordable to consumers.

The bottom line is that the congress is going to have to come up with a balanced solution to our national debt and economical situation. they will have to find a good balance of budget cuts and tax increases to accomplish the task at hand. But as long as they stick to political party agendas and are unwilling to compromise the chances of a true economical recovery is very unlikely.

God Bless and may truth light your path.

Raymond Barbier.

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Just a Monday night Political Rant

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Paul Jacob, during oral arguments of U.S. Term...

We allow greed, fear and the lust for power to be more important than community, family and common sense. We seem content in leaving the great decisions such as which freedoms are to be had as well as which freedoms are withheld from us. We complain endlessly about how ineffective our governments are yet we continue to vote for the same candidates over and over again.

We seem to have become apathetic and we seem unwilling to be a part of change. We all seem more into letting things stay the same or get worse than to stand up and get our voices heard in Washington. We allow news agencies to shape our opinions instead of seeking out the facts and making our own. We are like a nation of sleeping people who needs to wake up before it is too late. Many nations have walked this path and many of them are waking up to reality and are in turmoil due to the fact they slept too long.

Wake up America and seek out the truth about our congress and the capital hill gang. They are out of touch with what is really important. I don’t know if they are ignoring the people the represent or if the people are just not expressing their selves enough to get them to listen. But if enough people shout they will have to listen or they will be voted out next term. That’s the reality of politics and one of the good parts of our nations political system.

I believe that both the house representatives and senators have been in office too long. There should be term limits on congressional seats so there can be fresh blood and ideas flowing through each term. I also believe that their pay should be based on performance so they will work harder for the people who elected them as well as pay their paychecks. I also thing that there should be more regulations on the lobbyist. Laws that are brought up  should be simplified and have no ear marks or hidden clauses. We don’t need a 3000 page law. If the congress does not read the full thing then it should not be allowed to be voted on or passed.

 

Okay enough ranting for now
Raymond Barbier

Political, Random Thoughts, Thought's on World Issues

Just a Saturday Morning Political Rant

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The western front of the United States Capitol...
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  Corrupt politicians and big businesses that care more about a profit than the people who work for them rule the modern world we live in. So many voices crying out for change and freedom and very few ears in places of power willing to listen or even care. Revolution and civil wars across the globe with little change or evolution. Greed and the lust for power overrule the needs of the people as well as the needs of the planet. Storms raging across the face of  both land and sea devastate populations and yet they play politics in the houses of government.

Forcing people to work longer and to an older age before they can retire while trying to keep them from a good healthcare system while taxing the poor to death. It definitely time to put term limits on congress as well as time to make them work for minimum wage with the same low end benefits if any at all. If those in power had to live in the conditions of the common working man they might be able to do more on capital hill. But with 6 figure salaries and their grand benefits they can not see the wrong in dismissing or the dismantling of social security, welfare, Medicaid or Medicare. They are rich enough and have government subsidized insurance along with a federal government retirement to live off of.

  Too much political banter and saber rattling and not enough intellectual discussions on the true problems at hand. Yes we need to balance the budget, the fat needs to be trimmed and the dead weight dumped. But to once again put all of the burden on the backs of the working man and elderly is not acceptable. We need a fair tax system that eliminates  all the loopholes and tax shelters for the rich and forces a more level playing field in the taxation of the citizens. The notion that because they make so much money they shouldn’t pay no more in dollars than a working man is just hogwash. It should be based on an a percentage of the total income. If a man that makes 25,000 would have to pay a certain percentage of his income for taxes why shouldn’t the man who makes 2,000,000 do the same?

Putting the fact the income tax system is not fair or balanced, the fact we need to cut spending is a fact we can not ignore. We need to study each and every program, agency and political office to see where the fat is and cut it out if not at least trim it off a bit. There are so many government projects/programs that are not financially efficient or are no longer effective. Revamp or eliminate such projects/programs and fine tune the rest of them. We also need to stop borrowing money to only give it away as foreign aid, there is plenty of nations and political organizations we could work with to direct foreign aid to the countries in need. This world is not just the responsibility of the United states it is the responsibility of  the whole world. We are all civilized and intelligent beings and we should be able to work together as a world community to address the issues at hand.

  There is also the fact that we are in a trade deficit, most of what we import is not taxed. More and more of our businesses are manufacturing offshore to escape paying taxes and to have a cheaper workforce. This takes away jobs from Americans as well as tax revenue for the government to balance the budget. Just way too much to get into on the problems we face when it comes to trade. Being I am no economist nor am I any kind of expert concerning the tax code I do not know all the answers. I do know that the congress is looking in the wrong direction for solutions when dealing with our national financial problems. And it does not take a rocket scientist to see that they are more concerned with their own political agendas than they are with actually coming up with actual working solutions to the problems.

“We the People of The United States” Means all of us not just the Elite.

Raymond Barbier

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