Leisure Engagement Passion

Talking about our Government is not an easy topic to discuss with others.  Most people I know say they have their own problems to deal with, let alone the entire government.  But what I can’t understand is how they don’t relate the two.  Without knowing what our Government is doing, it’s our tax money that turns the wheels of government, is sticking our heads in the sand and saying let me know how it turns out.

Are you still employed?

Below is an email I received and I thought if I just send it out to my email list, it could take awhile before it gets around to those of us who care to make a difference.  I searched for a site to link to Jerry, but unfortunately  couldn’t find it.  I’ll keep trying.  Thanks Jerry Shambaugh for your Proposal, your ideas and your desire to turn the US around.

The Proposal:
When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall street and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of “tough decision”, and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.

Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to
218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50. Also reduce their remaining staff by 25%.

Accomplish this over the next 8 years. (two steps / two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some yearly cost reductions would include:

$44m for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165k pay / member / yr.)

$97m for elimination of the above people’s staff. (estimate $1.3m in staff per each member of the House, and $3m in staff per each member of the Senate every year)

$241m for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.

$7.5B reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15B / yr)

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country ??????

We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in
1911 when the current number of representatives was established (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)

Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still, they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators and congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44m reduction of congress members.

$282m for elimination of the reduced house member staff.

$150m for elimination of reduced senate member staff.

$59.6m for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.

$37.5m for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.

$7.5B reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

$8,074m per year, estimated total savings.

Big business does these types of cuts all the time.

If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling how much we would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.

IF you are happy how the Congress spends our taxes, ignore this message. IF you are not happy, then I assume you know what to do.  Comments are welcome, it’s good to know you care.