About Budgets

Once again Muths Truths offers some interesting statistics. In a post about state employee 4% COLA's we learn the last raise the governor got was 20.5% ($114,000 to $141,000); the Attorney General 20.9% ($110,000 to $133,000); the Secretary of State 21.3% ($80,000 to $97,000). I could go on, but you get the idea. I suppose that with dollar in the toilet, the legislature figured they could hand them out like gumdrops.

Add to that, this article from the Wall Street Journal. The FHA lost $4.6 billion on their idiotic loans last year. So what is congress doing? A bill passed the house and will likely pass the senate to bail out the banks to the tune of $300 billion. In other words, the worst of the deadbeat home owners get debt forgiveness, the bankers walk away free and clear, presumably to make even more idiotic loans, and the taxpayers get stuck with a bill for $304,600,000,000. Needless to say, we'll probably have to borrow it, thereby increasing the supply dollars, which reduces their value, which increases the relative cost of commodities (gas, food etc.) and at some point we'll all be on the barter system. Would anyone like to trade their loaf of bread for my used CD player?

There are times when I think our leaders are trying to ruin the country on purpose. But, what's the motive? The only alternative is they're stupid. They've all been to Harvard or Yale, so that's probably not it either. The silver lining here is that when the dollar finally becomes completely worthless, the politicians will stop begging us for donations. Unless of course, they'd like a used CD player.