THESE GUYS SHOULD ALREADY BE IN JAIL CROOKING THE BOOKS: GOVERNMENT STYLE

Ether Zone ^ | 17 July 2002 | Ed Henry

[45Auto]

When the federal government steals your retirement, health care, and other entitlement money (you can't really call it "borrowing") they spend it, all of it. They usually spend it as fast as it comes in and exactly where they intended to spend it in the annual budget they prepared and argued about. Despite the propaganda you hear about occasional raids, or one party being more guilty than the other, it's spent, sometimes even to pay off part of the national debt. It's a nonpartisan rip-off and your balance is nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada, squat, the big goose egg. You will never see that money again. It was the black ink that they spent.

Then, they immediately deposit "special obligation" nonmarketable bonds (junk bonds) in the respective entitlement trust fund that really isn't a trust because it never holds anything but debt. Since any part of the national debt can be redeemed only with taxpayer money, these debit black holes represent nothing but double taxation, with interest added. It's a money crime of the highest order.

Where do you think accountants from Arthur Andersen and various publicly held corporations learned this trick? If the lawmakers can engage in this sort of creative accounting and get away with it, why shouldn't the private sector? These bean counters all go to the same schools, read the same professional periodicals, belong to the same clubs, and so forth. Somewhere in their lives, some went to work for the government. Others took the risk of working in the private sector.

You could even say that the federal government has been breeding these crooks and cheaters, setting the example, and it is supreme hypocrisy to punish corporations without doing the same to government. Put them all in the slammer, the biggest ones first

[45Auto]

see link for whole article;lots of interesting graphic comparisons of government theft, and phoney "book-keeping."

[brat]

I agree! And the worst part is having paid in for 37 years, the younger generation seems to think you're a leper bleeding them dry. It always was high....but I figured I was helping my grandmother, then my parents. Some day it will be my turn, and if you think I'll consider it welfare, think again! We've paid in dearly and now they want to tell us to shove it. If the stinking gov had kept their hands off of it, there would be gazillions in the fund!

[jcmfreedom]

I have heard numerous people say the same thing. The biggest offender of shady book-keeping is the federal government. The government has no idea where the money is. It would behoove us to demand an accounting of our federal books and demand honesty.

In a side note: I truly believe that the troubles we have now financially are directly related to Clinton's policies. Of course, the present president and the Republicans will be blamed. I wish the American people would open their eyes...or maybe they have finally!

[45Auto]

The government has no idea where the money is

In the case of social security, they know exactly where it is: gone, spent, used up, stolen. There is no "trust fund" that Al The Bag Man wanted to put in a "lock box". All there is is a big bag of I.O.U.'s. Its been a "pay as you go" system since 1935 or so. It works as long as there are more workers than SS recipients. And it works as long as there are many people who make over $100,000/year. But it is coming to a disastrous close in the not-too-distant-future, whether anybody wants to see it or not.

I have been forced to pay into this monstrous con-job for several decades; and if I don't get out exactly what I put in, then there is going to be trouble.

[TADSLOS]

Congress makes Corporate Executive white collar criminals look like petty shoplifters. They just voted themselves another $5,000 a year raise. Who says crime doesn't pay?

[Texbob]

Nothing new. U S government employees and elected positions have been cover for the bigges crooks in the world.

[45Auto]

This kind of theft is the best reason I know for cutting the income tax in half, or better yet, repealing it altogether. The crooks in Congress derive their power from the money they steal from the people; cut the purse strings and you reduce the phoney, usurped authority of government. How to do it without major strife is the question. (strife = civil war)