Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Making Money Now

The following is supposedly a letter written by a Montana farmer to Alan Simpson, a former senator from Wyoming.


Simpson was the co-chair of the commission President Obama appointed in 2010 to look at ways to fix our deficit problem. The recommendations of the commission were instantly ignored.


Last year, Sen. Simpson compared Social Security to a milk cow with 310 million teats. He also called America's senior citizens the "greediest generation." 


This letter points out that Sen. Simpson himself, along with many other career politicians, has spent his life sucking on the taxpayer's teat.


We have no idea if the letter is real, but we imagine it captures the feelings of many Americans as they watch their dysfunctional government drive the country ever-deeper into a hole by making decisions that seem designed only to get them re-elected.


Given the extent of our current financial problems, some government leaders at some point are going to have to break promises made to Americans by their government predecessors--predecessors who made promises they knew they couldn't keep.


The politicians could make this news go down a bit easier if they imposed the consequences of some of these broken promises on themselves.


Here's the text of the supposed letter to Mr. Simpson. We've edited out some adjectives and expletives.


Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight...


1. As a career politician, you have been on the public tit for FIFTY YEARS.


2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15  years old. I am now 63).


3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud.


4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

 5 I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you propose to change the rules of the game.. Why? Because you mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.


 6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.


To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling bs on your incompetence. Well, now I have a few questions for YOU.


 1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your 50-year political career?


 2. At what age did you retire from your political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?


3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?


4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?


 It is you and Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. You have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.




Forgive the Clash reference. But seriously, should Luka stay at Tottenham or should he go? Spurs boss Harry Redknapp and Chairman Daniel Levy have reiterated time and time again that Luka Modric is not for sale at any price. Of course, to Russian billionaire and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich this can be roughly translated as "Give us more money and you can have whoever you want."

But let's come back to the original question, should he stay or should he go?

From Tottenham's point of view, Modric should stay. The 2011-2012 Premiere League season is pivotal to the future success of Tottenham Hotspur as a football club, as they are suffering a one-year slump in their hopes to become regulars in the Premiere League top four and Champions League.

Modric can be an incredibly creative little midfielder, and with the right motivation, he is an absolute game changer. If he stays, will this transfer drama go to his head and affect his play at Spurs? It certainly could and should be considered by Spurs in their Modric dilemma.

Is he irreplaceable? No. It's safe to say that Tottenham can get about as much as they want from Chelsea for the transfer. That money can be used to buy any number of players who will all but replace Modric as well as strengthen other parts of the squad.

From Chelsea's point of view, Modric is a must-have player. A young (relatively speaking) playmaker that can link up and be the ultimate connection between a strong central midfield and some world class forwards is exactly what Chelsea needs to earn back that top spot in the Premiere League. It's really quite simple for the Blues: They want him, and they have the money to buy him at any price.

Modric's point of view is harder to understand—only he knows what he wants. He can stay with a club that loves him and work to build a legendary Tottenham team that might finally be able to push themselves to the top of the Premiere League and, more importantly, stay there.

His other option is to hand in a transfer request and join up with Chelsea, a team which will surely pay him close to double what he's making now. With the move, he gets Champions League football and is surrounded by bigger-name players.

He should keep in mind, however, the name of someone who went through a similar situation not too long ago: Fernando Torres. Does Modric want to become the next cash-splash flop? If I know Modric, (which I don't,) he definitely does not.

So what do we have so far? We have Tottenham, who want to keep him and should keep him (unless they can do some major cashing in and buy a quality player or three.) We also have Chelsea, who want to buy him and should buy him to help their efforts at becoming the next English super power.

Lastly, we have wee Luka. If he can straighten his head out, he should stay at Spurs. If he can't, he should hand in his transfer request and move on. Now it all seems so simple.







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