Since it's still a case of TNBNT, I was thinking about the president's plan for another, smaller, stimulus package. That got me to thinking about why the plans already in effect haven't helped the economy at all. And that brings me to an obvious conclusion: This administration has created its own Catch 22's.
The situation is that there's plenty of money already in the hands of those who can help the economy, such as big business, but they won't spend any of it until the current Congress and administration are gone, and unable to damage them any more. On the other side of that coin, small business which employs the majority of the work force, can't hire because the banks won't lend them any money. And the banks won't lend at all until the current administration and Congress are gone, because of their fear of both entities ineptitude and inane policies.
So, I guess the answer is, if Congress and the administration truly wanted to stimulate the economy, and do something for people as they promised while running for office, they'd all resign and then the economy would likely boom.
Because, according to LegiStorm Data "nearly 2,000 House of Representatives staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income. …Though a small percentage of the overall congressional work force, their numbers are growing at a rapid rate under the Democratic Congress. The number of staffers earning within the upper 3 percent of House salaries — currently $163,358 or more — has increased by nearly 39 percent in the past four years."
Then, out of curiosity I did some more homework to try to find the areas where jobs are really plentiful, and people are well compensated, if not overly so. As it turns out there are 34,750 lobbyists currently in Washington,DC. That averages to more than 79 folks per Congressperson, if my math's right. On top of that there are approximately 16,766 staffers employed. 10,000 by the House and 6,766 by the Senate according to the Cato Institute.
The Washingtonian says that there are about 80,000 attorneys practicing in greater DC right now, and the DC Bar Association boasts 91,865 members all told. The Office of Executive Personnel Management estimated that there are 32,797 people in non-government, but related or supported jobs. And last of all, only a dinky 1100 political consultants -2.05 per member of Congress aside from their staffs.
Well, as they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs and lot's of good comes from sacrifice. So, a little bit more arithmetic tells me that the total number of 165,413 folks listed above in government support or related occupations equates to .00055138 of the population. At the same time, there are 9.6% or 28,800,000 unemployed in the general public. Thus, 165,413 resignations will create almost 29 million jobs practically overnight.
Now, realistically, I know that the resignations won't happen, primarily because those in office don't really give a damn about what's good for their constituents or country and never will. But not to worry, because in November at least there'll be a solution for the current crop of incumbents. The only problem is that the unemployment rate will rise again.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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