David

We need more McCaskil's serving in congress. I sometimes think that those who so carelessly waste my money truly considers themselves above the law. Accountability is in order. But as you say we will not achieve it until we demand it at the polling booth.

But our so-called "leaders" have been abusing this secret practice while spending billions of taxpayer dollars

The latter is the direct result of voter apathy and lack of voter education. It is absurd to think that these folks can be so negligent and arrogant in their jobs while suffering little accountability. One of the slimy perks of being the lawmakers I guess.

RickIL, one has to consider what voter's options are, realistically.

1) Vote for accountability without any assurance their vote will matter. (See Gerrymandering).

2) Vote for the lesser of two evils by Party and complain, which affords some momentary emotional satisfaction.

3) Vote and become a Party activist to improve one's Party and likely be shunned or ignored by your Party for the effort.

4) Become and Independent voter and vow to vote against their own incumbents which, in a manner of speaking, earns the voter the right to complain about the government incumbents deliver.

Or 5) Don't vote at all, and just complain, which affords some momentary emotional satisfaction.

A growing number are awakening to option 4.

But, as d.a.n is fond of asking, will it be in sufficient numbers and in time to effect an avoidance of economic and fiscal collapse? That is the fundamental question, and the variables are so enormous not even a super computer could calculate them 2 elections out.

However, this does mean that voters opting for #4, have an additional responsibility, to inform others, persuade others, and support organizations capable if bringing others on board to the option as rapidly as possible.

David R. Remer wrote: . . . will it [independent voters] be in sufficient numbers and in time to effect an avoidance of economic and fiscal collapse? That is the fundamental question, and the variables are so enormous not even a super computer could calculate them 2 elections out.

We're already seeing record foreclosures (270,000 per month), $53 Trillion of nation-wide debt, and these 10+ abuses continuing the deterioration of these 17+ economic conditions, which have never been worse ever and/or since the 1930s and 1940s.

David R. Remer wrote: However, this does mean that voters opting for #4, have an additional responsibility, to inform others, persuade others, and support organizations capable if bringing others on board to the option as rapidly as possible.

For any one who isn't quite certain about the economic outlook of the U.S., simply try to answer one question.

QUESTION: With $53 Trillion of nation-wide debt, where will the money come from to pay the INTEREST on the DEBT, much less the money to reduce the PRINCIPAL and keep it from growing ever larger, when that money does not yet exist?

Especially when 80% of the U.S. population only owns 17% of all wealth in the U.S.?
Especially when 40% of the U.S. population (on average) has a net worth of ZERO?
Especially when do-nothing Congress and government is still growing more corrupt, and allowing the nation's numerous problems to grow in number and severity?

But don't worry.
There is a potential built-in self-correction mechanism:

• Education

What we are seeing today has many causes (all rooted in many absues and manifestations of unchecked greed), but the nation-wide debt of $53 Trillion is largely a result of an upside-down pyramid fiat-funny-money monetary system, and all pyramid schemes are doomed to collapse. It's a mathematical certainty.

Where will the money come from to pay the INTEREST, much less the PRINCIPAL on the DEBT, when that money does not yet exist?
At only 4.0 interest, and if the debt was paid down by $5.8114 billion per day, it would take 272 years (longer than the nation has existed), the total INTEREST would come to $524 Trillion on top of the $53 Trillion of PRINCIPAL, for a total cost of $577 Trillion.

But how is that going to happen (and last) when the U.S. is borrowing over $3.0 Billion per day? Not only would the U.S. have to stop borrowing over $3.0 Billion per day, but would have to pay $5.811 Billion per day to merely stop the $53 Trillion of nation-wide debt from growing larger. It's not going to happen.

So what is going to happen?
There's ONLY one option left:

• Create more money out of thin air.

ANSWER: The wealthy, banks, and mortgage companies. Not the shrinking middle-income America.

And guess whose buying up foreclosures at cut-rate prices?

See how it works? Banks create money out of thin air. When someone gets foreclosed on, the bank confiscates the property, converting money created out of thin air into real assets and property. Then the bank sells that confiscated property to someone else at a discount (someone with cash or credit). And the pyramid continues to grow and grow. But if it ever gets too big, beyond the capacity of the nation to borrow more money, look out. As all pyramid schemes, they are all doomed to collapse eventually (but at different rates).

So, get ready for more inflation for a long time, continued declining wages, more foreclosures, and more pain and misery.

Now toss in energy vulnerabilities, government corruption, regressive taxation, rampant illegal immigration, lawlessness and rising crime rates, more rampant spending and waste, as the federal government continues to grow to nightmare proportions.

Perhaps enough voters will stop repeatedly rewarding irresponsible incumbent politicians in do-nothing Congress when enough of the voters are jobless, homeless, and hungry?

At any rate, the voters have the government that the voters elect.

d.a.n, the amazing thing to me as I see it, is that only a very small number of changes need to take place to set this country back on the right track.

But, the forces opposed to those changes are incredibly wealthy and influential in our government. Hence, the incumbents, who take from them, are ultimately not going to support those changes.

There is the bottom line.

d.a.n, the amazing thing to me as I see it, is that only a very small number of changes need to take place to set this country back on the right track.

But, the forces opposed to those changes are incredibly wealthy and influential in our government. Hence, the incumbents, who take from them, are ultimately not going to support those changes.

There is the bottom line.

David R. Remer wrote: . . . the amazing thing to me as I see it, is that only a very small number of changes need to take place to set this country back on the right track.

David R. Remer wrote: But, the forces opposed to those changes are incredibly wealthy and influential in our government. Hence, the incumbents, who take from them, are ultimately not going to support those changes.
There is the bottom line.

This does not mean that wealthy people are intrinsicly more corrupt than other people.
It simply means the wealthy have more power because they have more money, and money is power, and power corrupts, and attracts the corrupted.
Also, 99.7% of all 200 million U.S. voters are vastly out-spent by a very tiny 0.3% of the voters who make 83% of all federal campaign donations (of $200 or more). The wealthy also perpetuate those 10 abuses (see link above) because they clearly help the wealthy; not the majority of Americans. Unfortunately, too few voters understand this, and their bad voting habits reflect that ignorance. But, most people, in the same position, will do the same thing. The only cure is education, whether we get that education the smart way or the hard way.

Corruption is very hard to stop, since it is rooted in a few very fundamental human flaws (selfishness; laziness; greed; apathy; complacency; misplaced partisan loyalties; irrational fears and hatreds).
People naturally want security, comfort, and prosperity with the least effort and pain.
Unfortunately, some people either violate the law, or pervert the laws to do the very thing the laws were originally supposed to prevent.

Thus, it is very difficult to reform government when most voters repeatedly reward bad politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates, despite most voters also giving do-Nothing Congress a dismal 9% approval rating.

But, enough voters will probably get it eventually, and stop rewarding bad politicians with perpetual re-election, but it will probably only be after enough of the voters are feeling the painful consequences of it (as most voters did in year 1933, when they ousted 206 members of Congress).

Too bad it has to be that way, but as history shows us, humans often have to repeatedly learn the hard way (2.00 steps forward, 1.99 steps backward), and the only thing that finally brings about reforms is pain and misery. Frédéric Bastiat under(1801 to 1850) wrote about this fatal flaw and the eventual built-in self-correction mechanism (i.e. pain), when he wrote "The Law":

A Fatal Tendency of Mankind: Self-preservation and self-development are common aspirations among all people. And if everyone enjoyed the unrestricted use of his faculties and the free disposition of the fruits of his labor, social progress would be ceaseless, uninterrupted, and unfailing.

But there is also another tendency that is common among people. When they can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others. This is no rash accusation. Nor does it come from a gloomy and uncharitable spirit. The annals of history bear witness to the truth of it: the incessant wars, mass migrations, religious persecutions, universal slavery, dishonesty in commerce, and monopolies. This fatal desire has its origin in the very nature of man -- in that primitive, universal, and insuppressible instinct that impels him to satisfy his desires with the least possible pain.

Property and Plunder:
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.

But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.

Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain -- and since labor is pain in itself -- it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.

When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.

It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.

But, generally, the law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.

This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.

When we finally understand and accept the "fatal tendency" of human nature that Bastiat speaks of above (which is not said with malice, but simply a fact), then we will understand the importance of the simple formula below, we will have less lawlessnes, and we will have more responsible government:

• Responsibility =
  Power + Virtue + Education + Transparency + Accountability


• Corruption =
  Power - Virtue - Education - Transparency - Accountability

But where we lack virtue, education can and usually will compensate, whether we get that education the hard and painful way, or the smart and responsible way.

There's also an organization (Transparency International) that understands the importance of transparency, and grades governments around the world (giving them a Corruption grade).
Unfortunately, the United States' Corruption grade has been worsening for the last decade:

• USA Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Ranking History:
  
  • Year__NationRanking__Country __2007 CPI Score
  
  
  • 1995: __ 15 ______ USA __ 7.8
  
  
  • 1996: __ 15 ______ USA __ 7.6
  
  
  • 1997: __ 16 ______ USA __ 7.6
  
  
  • 1998: __ 17 ______ USA __ 7.5
  
  
  • 1999: __ 18 ______ USA __ 7.5
  
  
  • 2000: __ 14 ______ USA __ 7.8
  
  
  • 2001: __ 16 ______ USA __ 7.6
  
  
  • 2002: __ 16 ______ USA __ 7.7
  
  
  • 2003: __ 18 ______ USA __ 7.5
  
  
  • 2004: __ 17 ______ USA __ 7.5
  
  
  • 2005: __ 17 ______ USA __ 7.6
  
  
  • 2006: __ 20 ______ USA __ 7.3
  
  
  • 2007: __ 20 ______ USA __ 7.2

You are right. Our problems are not really that complicated, and the solutions are not that complicated.
The difficulty is quite simply a flaw of human nature.
Perhaps some day, we will finally learn and understand that we can never ignore government, transparency, accountability, or power which corrupts and attracts the corrupted.
In a voting nation, education is paramount.
Thomas Jefferson understood this when he said that liberty and ignorance cannot coexist. He knew only education can compensate for a lack of virtue (i.e. sufficient education to know that corruption will only lead to more pain and misery):

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1816.

• Stop repeat offenders; don't re-elect them. If in doubt, vote' em out