Congressional Reform Act of 2011

A friend forwarded this to me.  Let’s hope it goes viral:

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.

Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

The Romney Rule

The Buffett Rule refers to the idea — suggested by Warren Buffett himself — that millionaires should NOT pay a lower tax rate than middle- and lower-income earners.  But if you want an even better name — and a much more bumpersticker-friendly soundbite — how about the Romney Rule.

Mitt Romney is the perfect poster child for the absurd inequality of our tax laws.  As you probably know, the richest Americans derive most of their income from investments, rather than wages or a salary.  And the tax rate on capital gains is much lower than the tax rate on money that a person has actually worked for.

Obama wants to remedy this by establishing a minimum tax rate on the wealthiest .3% of American taxpayers.  That number would come out to roughly 450,000 taxpayers.

Mitt Romney would be hit especially hard by the Romney Rule since most of his wealth has come from capital gains.  (More specifically, Romney has made most of his money through purchasing solvent companies, driving these companies into debt, laying off the workforce and shipping the jobs overseas.  But that’s a whole ‘nother post.)

Romney is desperately fighting this Wall Street image and various nicknames like Millionaire Mitt.  He repeatedly describes himself as “currently unemployed” and “part of the middle class.”  Romney’s Achilles’ Heel is showing.  Democrats need to keep hammering away at Millionaire Mitt and the Romney Rule and all the rest of Romney's Wall Street baggage.

Even Mike Huckabee has said that Romney comes off “like the guy who laid you off.”

PrioritiesUSA Action is among the organizations trying to turn the “Romney Rule” into a ubiquitous slogan.  That should be easy to do, considering Romney paid a 14% tax rate on his income last year (according to Citizens for Tax Justice).

Barack Obama: a Threat to Big Business

There are exceptions; not everyone in the business community is threatened by Obama.

Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman, endorsed him last month. And Obama has been consulting with Warren Buffett and international financier Robert Wolf. Wolf said “When I sat down with him, I found him to be unbelievably refreshing and smart and thoughtful.”

One Democratic strategist said “He's been pretty clear that business would have a seat at the table, but business wouldn't be able to buy all the chairs." Communist!

No wonder the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has given Obama the lowest rating of the three White House contenders. They gave McCain an 80% favorable rating; Hillary Clinton got 67%; Obama got 55%.

The National Association of Manufacturers (not that they're partisan or anything) gave a zero rating to Clinton and Obama; McCain got 100%.

Here are some of the reasons the Good Ol’ Boy Network doesn’t want Obama:

He sponsored a bill that would give shareholders (i.e. the owners of the company) a nonbinding proxy vote on executive pay.

He also voted for a free trade agreement with Peru which would include protections for Peruvian workers and the local environment. What?!?!?!? God created those Peruvian peasants for American businessmen to exploit!

And that’s not all: Obama might amend NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to include environmental and workers’ protections.