Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice....

What is it with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives?  Weren't they paying attention last November?  Even a blind man could see that the people were fed up with business as usual in Washington.  The supposed joke of a candidate, Bernie Sanders, turned out to be the guy that set the tone for the entire election.  He turned things upside down, calling out those who were shills for special interests, and promised to represent the people for a change.  And Donald Trump did much the same, in his own way, and in the process earned the votes of many who were fed up with the status quo.   "Drain the swamp" they said.

The big catch phrase has been "transparency", which means to put everything out in the open for all to see.  No secrets, no back room deals, just put the truth out there, period.  And if you're proud of what you've done, or at least not ashamed of it, why not?

So less than two months after the election, what do the sitting Republican House of Representatives members do in a closed door caucus / meeting on their last day before the next Congress is sworn at in?  They voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence and place it under the control of the House Committee on Ethics.

In other words, the members of the House will now be responsible for looking into charges of unethical practices by members of the House.  Are you kidding me?  That idea was proven to be a sham years ago, which is why the INDEPENDENT Office of Congressional Ethics was set up in the first place!  The fox once again has the keys to the hen house!

(In fairness, if the Democrats should again become the majority party in a future election, I don't want them to have this power, either.)

The soon to be* renamed and declawed "Office of Congressional Complaint Review" cannot review any misconduct that took place before 2011, cannot release any of its findings to the public, or alert law enforcement to any criminal activity uncovered, without the permission of their House committee overseers. ('Cause, you know, you've gotta give the crooks a head start so they can wipe off their prints and clean up the blood.)

Transparency my ass!  They've tricked us again.

S

* This is all contingent on the full House and Senate agreeing.  As they are both Republican controlled, and if there is no public outcry in the meantime, expect that to happen soon.


 

Making Mr. Magoo proud!

The notoriously nearsighted Mr. Magoo.

As usual this morning I watched the talking head shows to learn how much mud had been slung by our illustrious presidential candidates overnight.  Turns out the Democrats are still fuming over the fact that Donald Trump likely pays no taxes at all....nada....zip!  *gasp*

And the Republicans are still strutting their stuff, pointing out how brilliant The Donald is at slinking his way through the 75,000 page (and growing) IRS tax regulations.  *par-tay!*

And we, the voters, still can't see 2 feet past this "made-for-TV" charade.  

Is it scandalous that Trump pays no taxes?  YES, of course it is.  Does it make Trump a despicable person for not paying any taxes?  NO, of course not.  He's paying what the IRS says he must, and no more.  Both arguments are missing the REAL scandal:  HOW IN THE HELL have we allowed so many loopholes, deductions, exemptions, subsidies, etc to be included in our tax code in the first place?

How?  We've been outsmarted, and grossly out spent, by the rich and powerful and their hired lobbyists.   They knock on the door of an influential Congressman or Senator and say "We'd like a special tax exemption that allows us to blah blah blah.  Oh, and here's a $25,000 campaign contribution because you're such a great guy."  And down the hall another lobbyist is asking another "civil rapist servant" for their special consideration, and greasing more than a few palms, too.  Over and over it happens, both parties, all over Capital Hill.

Then they all get together and say, "I'll vote for yours if you'll vote for mine."  And they agree, and the tax code grows by a few more pages, and we get screwed. 

Hillary Clinton isn't about to change this practice if elected.  She IS the establishment in this election.  Nor will Donald Trump....he and his $$$$buddies have been the ones greasing the aforementioned palms for decades.  They have everything to lose and nothing to gain if the system is shaken up.

It's all a big joke.  They will win, we will lose.  Game, set, match.

 Thank you Congressman.  May I please have another.

S 

Remember my words!

I see that our illustrious Congress has passed a $1.1T spending bill to keep our gubment up and running for a while longer.  So be it.  But what really chaps my hide is that the unbelievably powerful banking/financial services industry has scabbed on to it a provision that pretty much guts the Dodd-Frank Banking Reform Bill.  WE...ARE...SCREWED!!!!

Basically the banks have been given a green light to get involved in highly profitable, but highly risky investments that are likely to eventually blow up in our face.  I say "OUR face" instead of "THEIR face" because when it all hits the fan again the banks/Wall Street will simply form a line at the Taxpayer's Bailout Window.  Congress has just put us all on the line....we just co-signed a TRILLION DOLLAR note!  *how's your sphincter feeling now?*

Gamblers eventually lose, and these days banks are just glorified, and very highly paid, gamblers. But when these gamblers lose, THEY don't lose.  Their money is safely tucked away.  It's OUR piggy banks that will get robbed.

So when is the bottom gonna fall out again?  Three years?  Five years?  Eight years?  Who knows?  But I fear this next time, unlike the financial meltdown of 2008, the rest of the world will be in the tank ahead of us, with no strong player(s) to pull us through.  (In '08 Europe and China were doing pretty well, which helped absorb some of the carnage.  Today they are in trouble, too.)

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but please don't shoot the messenger.  Shoot Congress and the bankers*.  Please.

S

*figuratively speaking, of course  *Hi NSA*  :)