EDITORIAL

While the general public was in the process of getting ready for the annual Thanksgiving holiday, the freeloaders of this country have been busy working the system.

Moving to the top of the list of leeches are the elected officials in Washington.

America was just hoodwinked by this so-called “Super Committee.” This group of 12 bi-partisan, do-nothing politicians once again correctly proved the saying of H.L. Menken: “People deserve the government they get, and they deserve to get it good and hard.”

This committee was supposed to come up with some answers on how to reduce the national deficit alleviate the severe economic times being felt. About the only thing they came up with was their lunch order—and chances are that they fought over the bill for that, too.

It is abundantly clear that the elected members in government aren’t concerned about governing anything but their own re-election. They don’t need to worry about the rest of us; they’re doing just fine. Members of Congress make over $160,000 per year and receive terrific benefits.

Amazingly, many members of Congress manage to retire as multi-millionaires, even if they started their careers with minimal wealth. Recently, it was made known that Congress members had the ability to conduct inside trading and get away with it. After all, members of the House have the benefit of non-public information which they can use for their personal gain.

Members of the New York Stock Exchange go to jail for doing the same thing, but members of Congress just keep getting re-elected—and richer by the year. The hypocrisy is disgusting.

But this government largely reflects many Americans who just look the other way at this corruption and neglect because they are too busy working their own get-rich-quick scams.

Just recently, it was uncovered that in 2008, virtually every employee of the Long Island Rail Road had applied for and received federal benefits for occupational disability, plus their regular railroad pension.

This leads many to question the significant increase in the number of people receiving disability benefits. Almost 20 million people in the U.S. now collect Social Security disability payments. Certainly, some are truly injured to the point where work is not an option. But 20 million people can’t work due to injury?

In another rip-off, Social Security Administration Inspector General Patrick O’Connor told an audience of disability-examiners about an investigation which found that 290 of 300 employees of a recently-shuttered pharmaceutical plant in Puerto Rico applied for Social Security disability benefits.

The cost of the program has more than doubled in the last decade, and it is projected to run out of reserves in 2017 if changes aren’t made. And don’t hold your breath waiting for Washington to fix this; they’re too busy getting re-elected by any means necessary—even if it means ruining the country.

Crooks are running amok in the U.S.; we have become our own worst enemy. It’s time for those with a sense of honesty and good judgment to step forward and reject corruption in all its forms.

“Voting the bums out” of Washington is a good start.