Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I ask you John Boehner, where are the jobs?

It wasn't that long ago that Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was asking the question, "where are the jobs"?  Now, just a couple of months after taking control of the House of Representatives, Mr. Boehner and his Republican colleagues have constructed a budget, based on promises they had made during campaign season, that would cut the budget by $100 billion.  With this budget, they say that all programs are "on the table".  According to Boehner, if that means the loss of government jobs, then "so be it".  So, if I am to understand this correctly, the Republicans aren't doing anything to create jobs, which is all they talked about when on the campaign trail.  Instead, they are actually looking to cut jobs, and they are just fine with that. 

Ok, so I ask you this, what happened?  The Republicans railed on Obama and the Democrats for not creating more jobs in the two years from 2008 to 2010.  All they talked about was how with them in power of the House, they would get Americans back to work.  What have they done so far?  Well, let's see.  They refused to do anything until the Bush Era Tax Cuts were continued (costing us more money, not helping the middle class, and making the rich richer), have worked to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act (with no new plan in place, they just want to get rid of it), argued about the definition of rape (this is just sick) and spent time at CPAC doing their collective best to be stand up comedians (not sure which they are worse at, being funny, or politicians).  I don't see where they are doing anything to create jobs and stimulate our economy, do you? 

Now, before you starting lecturing me on how "our spending is out of control", and that our government is "bloated and full of unnecessary bureaucrats", I don't disagree with you.  BUT, I think we need to look at the big picture here.  Do we have wasted spending in Washington?  Absolutely.  Are we doing things that aren't cost effective?  Damn right.  Do we have our priorities in order?  Hell no!  Sure, some of the proposed cuts will be a good confidence boost for some business owners, and that can mean more jobs at some point, but only after many more teachers, firefighters, police officers and other state and federal jobs are lost.  However, will cuts to social programs have a negative impact on people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or even Michael Jordan for that matter?  No, not even a little.  Will it put a hurting on your neighbor, your grandmother, or your brother?  Yes, it will.  Middle and lower class Americans are drowning right now, and all the Republicans are worried about is keeping money in the pockets of the top 2% of all wage earners.  What about the defense budget?  Is that going to drop?  Nope.  We can't touch that.  It's really important we are fighting two unfunded wars, so that doesn't count.  Come on, everything needs to be on the table here people!

Look, I'm not a politician, but I know we have major financial issues in this country, and we have to be able to sit down at a table, look each other in the eye, and have an honest debate about what to do to fix things.  In my personal life, whenever I have had money troubles, I look at where I can cut, but also how I can bring more money in.  Perhaps I need to pick up a second job (or 5th in my case).  Sure, it's not easy to decide which things to cut, and by how much, but I have to take everything into consideration.  Hopefully our elected officials can figure this out in a civil and speedy fashion.  Who am I kidding, that is just wishful thinking.  I'm just saying...