Members of Congress are crooks, liars and thieves?

2013

Members of congress should have pay cuts into the five-figure bracket they are all crooks liars and thieves.

All politicians are crooked and what if their retirement was in question, they would do something about it. No senior citizens should ever VOTE again!

congress should be limited to the same cola increases….

So says an upset senior citizen commenting on the likely low increase in Social Security benefits for 2014.

In fact, raises for Congress and federal employees have been zero or less than the Social Security COLA for several years. Crooks, liars and thieves? Eh, a few of each, but mostly just acting in their own political interest … frequently at odds with the best interests of the Country as a whole and able to do so because we allow them to.

More importantly, this type of reaction from people is, in my opinion, an indication of how entitlement driven we have become and how detached we are from any connection between the citizens and their government. It’s like there are separate entities; one providing and one taking and always wanting more.

A working life is roughly forty-years. That’s forty years to anticipate, if not plan for 25 or 30 more years not working. Every year Social Security sends people a statement of their projected benefit; you can also project your benefit on-line. There are no surprises here. If you were living pay check to pay check for forty years, things won’t be better in retirement.

There are simple truths here. When you get old you will have less money, higher not lower expenses and increases in your income will be minimal or nonexistent. That is one thing that is not the politicians fault.