PUTTY IN THEIR HANDS!

PUTTY IN THEIR HANDS! (New York Times/Frazer Chronicle)

It's hard for the average citizen to understand what is going on in our country and harder still to do about anything that is seen as unjust. People all over America, average citizens continue to pay taxes of all kinds in order to support all sorts of programs for American citizens. Excise tax, sales tax, room tax, tobacco, alcohol and income tax. There are many more taxes at play in the "garden of good and evil," but I don't want to take the time, and you don't have the concentration power.

I don't get where a prospective politician, running for any kind of elected position in the country can say that he is "going to lower taxes." I simply do not get it, Here in Wisconsin, newly elected Republican governor Scott "Sleepy" Walker has pretty much "gutted" any union authority for state workers which includes public school teachers.

No bargaining, just an arbitrary cut amounting to about 12% across the board to every state employee, that's $12 on a hundred, or about $144 dollars on an $1200 paycheck, or a cut in pay of approximately $3888 a year for 26 paydays a year.

My wife, who will retire at 4:30 P.M. on May 4^th 2012, has made a good living working for the Parks Department for the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and has faithfully served the Green Bay community for close to 25 years. She has loved her job and has worked her way up the city ladder, "in her department" to a position of a sort of book-keeper for the department.

She receives and banks all department monies, runs a daily spread sheet, keeping each arm of the Park Department aware of their financial responsibilities, both income and expenditures. Until she became deaf a portion of her day included front desk duties, greeting customers, and collecting money for the different programs that are available to the public taxpayer.

Over the last 8 to 10 years, my wife has noticed a downsizing of her department, less summer help, when of course the summer is the busiest season. In addition, when a department employee transferred to another department, quit, or retired. Sometimes that position was not filled, it was left vacant and everybody in the department was expected to "pick up the slack."

When new governor "Sleepy" Walker took control, you can imagine the dismay when the remaining department employees discovered that the new governor stated that health care, pensions and pay structure would be targeted as areas for the new administration "slash plan."

After the dust settled, early this year, my wife was bringing home less pay then she had been making for at least 5 years. To a degree that is okay with both my wife and I. If everybody across the board is going to have to help in Walkers’ "austerity"….who are we?

But then we learn that police and fire departments across the state will not be participating in the governor's "retooling" of Wisconsin's deficit budget, I for one cried "foul." Two of Wisconsin's strongest unions, police and fire are basically left to their own devices, while the rest of state employees "pony up the dough-ray-me." Unbelievable!

Then down the pike comes Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan and his "path to prosperity" budget, or the "road map to success." In the Ryan plan, what "sleepy" Walker has done to Wisconsin public workers seems like "Child’s play." Ryan would attack the following national programs:

HEALTH CARE would fulfill a 2010 campaign promise to repeal President Obama's most significant accomplishments, repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, cutting $725 billion dollars.

MECICARE REFORM: Instead of government reimbursing doctors and hospitals for certain medical procedures, senior citizens would purchase private health insurance subsidies. There is other verbiage within this part of the reforms set forth, about the wealthy helping to pay for the added cost, but we all know how well the wealthy help those less fortunate.

MEDICAID: Republicans would overhaul the way Medicaid is funded by the federal government, to some sort of "block grant."

TAX REFORM: Would lower from 35% to 25% the tax rate for the rich and corporations, “‘Nuff said."

I do not understand how people, those of us zombies who toil in the day to day world, those of us who work real jobs, take crap from our boss, manager, or supervisor, get home and take crap from the wife and kids, eat supper, watch a little Tru-T.V. go to bed, and then get up the next morning to begin another day of the same crap.

Some jerk-off(s) like Paul Ryan, you know, those guys who are never wrong and think that they have all the answers for whatever might be ailing the country and then have the audacity to write their thoughts down on paper and actually try and get their ideas "enacted."

Why is it whenever there is a financial problem in the United States, our elected official pick on the masses to fix the problem and leave the "hoy-paloy" alone, and in fact many times, financial reward them. Now this is not to say that I do not understand, I guess I'm just flabbergasted that these political figures continue to get away with it.

I really am not quite sure why our local, state and federal governments continue to deficit spend, a simple "if ya ain't got it, we can't buy it" approach has always been the best way to stay out of debt. People clamor for items, politicians capitulate, credit is offered, "in many ways," and items are bought "on time."

As the years pass, and the interest only is paid, the principle for the item bought back in 2000 takes on an entirely different appearance, it's old, rusted, obsolete and a new one is necessary. Some of the political representation have been voted out of office, have moved on, or are dead, so the process starts all over again.

Are we "putty in their hands," actually we are all putty in their hands, the hands are business, and we all are molded in differing degrees and at different times. "Mores’ the putty!”