Monday, November 29, 2010

We're all Republicans Now

If you just take their ideas and fight for them yourself, you don't even need to compromise anymore!
The Obama administration announced on Monday an ambitious plan to freeze the salaries of federal employees for two years in an effort to address massive deficits and get a handle on the country's unsustainable fiscal path.
The Administration's own press release is stunning in so many ways:
Because of the irresponsibility of the past decade, the President inherited a $1.3 trillion projected deficit upon taking office and an economic crisis that threatened to put the nation into a second Great Depression.
So we're going to get tough with the people who caused this mess freeze the pay of people who have nothing to with anything and save less than .05% of our national debt.
Now, the economy is growing, and we have gained private sector jobs for the past 10 months. But families and businesses are still hurting, and our top priority is making sure that we are doing everything we can to help boost economic growth and spur job creation.
We're going to grow the economy by making sure people have less money to spend. Got it.
Just as families and businesses around the nation have tightened their belts so must their government. That must be done in a targeted way that focuses our investments in what works and in what will lay the foundation for job creation and economic growth for years to come while cutting back elsewhere in our budget.
And rather than cutting money to the companies that are currently robbing our government blind and easily evading their taxes, we decided to go right at those who deserve these cuts the most, the people who have decided make a career in government service.
This was a decision that was not made lightly. From the doctors and nurses who care for our veterans to the scientists searching for better treatments and cures, the men and women who care for our national parks, and the thousands who make sure that the Social Security check is in the mail and that students get their scholarships, federal workers serve their fellow Americans. They do so often with great sacrifice and motivated by a patriotic love for their country. This freeze is not to punish federal workers or to disrespect the work that they do. It is the first of many actions we will take in the upcoming budget to put our nation on sound fiscal footing – which will ask for some sacrifice from us all.
It's not to punish you, we're just cutting your pay. And not giving a fuck about the people who rob the government daily for amounts exponentially larger than most of your paychecks combined. But it's not about you, we respect you, just not enough to pay you what you're owed.

4 comments:

  1. I wrote a much longer version of this, but the internet ate it, and I don't want to type it again.

    Dear Mr. President,
    Cutting my mother's pay and threatening to eliminate social security for my 63 year old father are both EXCELLENT ways to lose my vote.

    And for the record, your plan so far seems to be:
    1) cut mom's pay
    2) eliminate dad's retirement plan
    3) kick dad off unemployment
    4) send my little sister through college on loans, crippling her with debt when she emerges to find no jobs
    5) reduce funding for the sciences, ensuring that I can't get a grant, or a job, to support my now needy family
    6) party on wall street to celebrate the economic recovery.

    Let me know if I missed anything.

    So yeah... good luck in 2012. You'll need it. Because unless something changes, a lot, you won't be getting my vote.

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  2. You should send that to the president personally, he might not read the train.

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  3. He might NOT read the train???!?!??!?!


    In seriousness, thanks for that message jaypop. Well said.

    And also you really should send that to the white house. Might go into a massive pile, but you never know.

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  4. yeah, it was a fairly serious challenge to not include the word "fuck" anywhere in that though. I'm not sure I can write a more full-length version without the phrase "you do not fuck with my family" in there somewhere. And I'm reasonably certain that cursing at the president gets you weeded out of the short stack of letters he reads.

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