He made a lot of sense.
Plugging his new book, "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me", Ventura went on a stoic, well-thought out and clearly angry rant about his problems with the American political system. His main beef was with our bipartisan political system, describing the Democrats and the Republicans as "street gangs" and "facists", and urging the American public to stop contributing to a bloated system of politic that has, since Nixon's days, led our country into more than 9 trillion(!) dollars in debt.
The number is staggering, and it's not even an exaggeration. Sites like zfacts and http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ showcase a strangely unreported problem with our country's money--or lack thereof.
Now, I'm not an economist. I have a friend who is into finances, but I don't know nearly enough to rant and rave about how high our debts have gotten or what that means for the country. All I know is that, as Ventura mentioned and as confirmed by a few web sources, we as a country owe about 30,000 dollars per person. For a family of four, that equates to $120,000+.
That sounds like a LOT OF FUCKING MONEY.
If you check out zfacts and look at where they say that money is going--something called the "General Fund" which is, according to zfacts
"What is the General Fund?
The General Fund of the federal government (AKA federal funds) with the $9 trillion debt. It is used to carry out the general purposes of the government, rather than the funds earmarked for a certain purpose, i.e. trust funds.
"General fund means the accounts for receipts not earmarked by law for a specific purpose, the proceeds of general borrowing, and the expenditure of these moneys." —From the Glossary of the Analytic Perspectives of the OMB Budget
, FY 2005, p. 392."This is roughly translated to money we pay for no purpose. It's money for the sake of having money--which is sort of a stupid reason to me. There's no "specific purpose" which basically means that this money can go to whatever--or whoever--they want it to.
That means that for MY family--four people--we owe 120,000 to pay off a debt that is accomplishing absolutely no definite purpose, but rather it serves an ambiguous, general purpose that can be just about anything.
If I'm paying taxes, shouldn't I know exactly where my taxes are going? Shouldn't we all know? I mean, they tell us taxes are to fund highways and shit like that, but this "general fund" is funded directly and solely from our income taxes. Income taxes do not go to any other funds besides this "general fund", and those funds are, in some cases, even showing surplusses. This general fund is costing us heavily, and it is costing us heavily for absolutely no purpose!
Ron Paul had a number of economic plans, the most memorable of which was to eliminate income taxes. Taking a look at the raw data, I'm wondering if he wasn't right on the money--forgive the pun. I mean, my income taxes are not funding a single god damn thing that I am actively using. Ron Paul even said what those taxes were funding--a general interest "pot", which was divvied up between lobbyists and Congressmen to benefit people besides us. Besides, specifically, me.
Frankly, fuck that.
Jesse Ventura wants us all to vote independent. Ron Paul wants to eliminate income taxes that don't benefit us. Both of these people have Libertarian leanings, and both of these people have been shouldered out of the election because party politics are too narrow to encompass them, and the modern media can't be bothered to cover anybody who isn't a fat, bloated elephant, or a jackass.
Whose to blame?
Whose not to blame?
Us? Them? Both?
We need to start opening our eyes and peering out onto the world. We have the internet readily available to us, and with a few keystrokes, I was able to find all the information I've presented right here. In a matter of seconds.
Imagine if I'd spent minutes? What the hell else would I find?
Think about it.
Good Evening, and Good Fortune.
--IW
1 comment:
While it's true the general fund is a "slush" fund, and it is a "rainy day" fund--in case the government needs money quick--without having to go beg from Congress, which as you know, is a partisan misadventure. Your sources mentioned the military gets some funding from the general fund. How come you didn't mention that?
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