Saturday, September 8, 2012

DO YOU KNOW YOUR ARITHMETIC?

The conventions are over, and Bill Clinton talked about arithmetic, my weakest subject throughout school, but we can never evade arithmetic.

Did you know:
…that Vice President Cheney said, “Deficits don’t matter”? He didn’t do his arithmetic.
…That Bill Clinton left office with a balanced budget and a surplus? He did his arithmetic.

Salary of retired US Presidents .. ………….$180,000 FOR LIFE Plus the cost of lifetime protection.
Salary of House/Senate ……………………$174,000 FOR LIFE-Plus the cost of lifetime health care for all.
Salary of Speaker of the House …………..$223,500 FOR LIFE
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders …… $193,400 FOR LIFE
They do well on their arithmetic when it affects their lifestyle and comfort.

Obama made the banks pay back all of their bailout funds because he did his arithmetic.

But look at this arithmetic:
Average Salary of a teacher …………….. $40,065
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN…………… $38,000
Average Salary of an NFL Football Player…..$770,000

In the last 10 years High School Sports have become recruiting grounds for professional sports. Maybe we should tie teacher salaries to Sports Salaries? Our schools are expected to pay for sporting programs that are paid for by our taxes, to benefit the pros. But, shoot, what do I know? Arithmetic is my worst subject.

The Securities and Exchange Commission received 300,000 comments asking it to require corporations to disclose their political spending-100,000 more comments than they’ve ever had on any subject. I wonder if the Arithmetic gave them a strong clue?

And, did you know that President Richard Nixon, Averill Harriman and Great Grandaddy Bush are related? They pledged years ago, after Grandaddy Bush lost his bank to the New Deal, to dismantle Roosevelts new society. Well, its taken them awhile but they’ve almost got the job accomplished. Romney and Ryan plan to finish it off for them. They have some interesting arithmetic that changes depending on what speech you listen to.

I wonder why our problems seem so unsolvable? After all, we were the most prosperous society in the world just 35 years ago. What changes turned us into a society on the brink of collapse in just 35 short years? Do the arithmetic.

Count 545 congressional men and women. Taking the entire congress, their average personal wealth is very conservatively estimated, (because they only have to report investments broadly, not exact profits) is 1.4 million, that’s average, and counts new incoming representatives from supposedly a “normal” walk of life.
Some are very wealthy. One percent of Americans are Millionaires. But, in congress, the rate hovers between 40 and 50 percent.
Yup! It is all about arithmetic.

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