Ask not what your country can do for you. In John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address as President of the United States, he said:    “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”   These words mean NOTHING to our lawmakers today in Washington D.C.   These lawmakers would rather make cuts to Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment benefits, and Education that mean so much to our citizens, or taxing our working class citizens who are strapped for cash already rather than tax the rich 1%.     I must ask what sacrifices these lawmakers are making for their country.   To these lawmakers it’s   “what their country can do for them”, especially when it concerns money. JFK’s words fall on the deaf ears of our lawmakers, yes our Louisiana lawmakers included, as they continue their dysfunctional behavior in Washington D.C. The millions of dollars spent by big business on campaigns for these lawmakers are not wasted once they get in office.   They busily pass legislation favoring Wall Street and continue to shelter these companies from taxes.   The burden then falls on the middle class whose ranks are continually declining.   Poverty is at an all-time high.   Nationwide it rose 15.1 percent since 2009.    That is equivalent to 1 in 6 people who are poor in this great country.   That is not counting the millions of people who live just above the poverty threshold.   Poverty in Louisiana rose to 18.2 percent.     You may ask next what these lawmakers get in return for their loyalty to Wall Street.   Some of the recent issues in the news media lately are: 1.          Insider trading; some of our lawmakers are making more money off of stocks then professionals in the business.   For most, insider trading is illegal but with the laws being vague for our lawmakers they get inside information from big business that no one else could.   It is being done as I write.   Lawmakers are considering a bill to address this problem but that is like the fox watching the hen house. 2.        VIP discounted Loans from Country Wide Financial, whose subprime mortgages were largely responsible for the national foreclosure crisis.   I understand there are four known lawmakers who took loans and more are being investigated.   Three are Republicans. 3.        And then there is Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich who blasted the financial institutions of Wall Street but was one time employed by,   and pocketed 1.6 million dollars as a “strategic advisor” (lobbyist) for Freddie Mac.   I don’t have to explain what Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have done to the United States economy.     As you may see, loyalty isn’t a virtue a lawmaker has for long. To think that some lawmakers described the Occupy Protest of a port on the West Coast as hurting the economy.   It was because of these Wall Street institutions and our lawmaker’s greed that caused the great recession we are in today. The Occupy Protest grew out of that greed and greed will continue to fuel protest.   Until we as the 99% ask ourselves are these lawmakers doing “what they can do for their country?”
Posted by creppelrm