Milestones
By Miles H. Barber

Where did we ever get the idea that in America it is our government's obligation to redistribute the wealth?

It didn't work in Russia after 70 years of experimentation and they finally capitulated to a capitalistic system.

America has been so successful at capitalism we are fixing it. We are exchanging our capitalism foundation for a socialistic government monopoly. The motto of Congress and this administration seems to be "if it is working break it".

Every attempt to stimulate the economy has been a dismal drain of our resources.

Every current Bill that Congress has passed is anything but transparent and practical.

TEFRA is so convoluted that workers attempting to conform to these ridiculous regulations look like a pretzel wrapped in medical tape.

The Health Reform bill is so punitive it is anything but capitalistic. This reform is inching its way into our lives starting with the 21% reduction in Medicare payments. Over the next two years we will be paying more, getting less and in addition to capital gains tax we will be paying 3.8% additional taxes on the sale of our properties (another little hidden gem and what does that have to do with health care?)

The Financial Reform Bill that no one in Congress read stated at 2300 pages and has grown to 20,000. Congress rubber stamped that puppy like it was a 2 page memo.

Have they even read it? Of course not! Do they understand it? Uh huh, sure!

We now have new laws to enforce the old laws, which enforced the original laws and this requires another onion layer of government bureaucracy. We also get another "Czar" and thousands of government jobs given to inexperienced enforcers with the powers to shut your business down.

Frankly, most of our financial laws have been in force since 1933 and they were not enforced. What value are the thousands of government oversight employees if they are not held accountable?

The result of no accountability leaves us with a group of finger pointing politicians blaming Bush or Barney Frank or King George III.

As Alan Greenspan said on CNN, "We are being governed by the 25 cube rule. We have 25 year old staffers who make $25,000 a year and work 25 hours a day. The majority of them have never financed a car let alone a home. Yet, we are handing our regulatory oversight to these 25 year old staffers."

We have turned over regulation writing to kids who never heard of a derivative.

We have turned over so many new leafs in Washington we have the tree upside down.

When a welfare recipient receives twice as much in assistance as a disabled veteran, we have disabled priorities.

When illegal aliens receive more financial assistance and benefits than unemployed citizens, we have the wrong people making laws.

The program of Robin Hoodism makes working people pissed, particularly when the price paid to prolong the non-productive pastime of non-producing people is protracted.

Not much has changed since this was first published in mid 2010.

Miles H. Barber can be reached at Scweekly2011@yahoo.com