An Angry Mop

For regular readers of this blog, you might recall the little sing-song phrase our son came up with a few short years ago after attending (with us) a BZA meeting that, in my humble opinion, carelessly trampled on the rights of citizens throughout this area.

He (our son) was only 3 yrs. old at the time.

In a sweet child-like voice, he sat at his computer singing over and over:

"An angry mop! An angry mop! An angry mop!"

You see, he had overheard the phrase "an angry mob" at the meeting and with childlike innocence and glee, converted the phrase into a cartoon that stuck in his head... creating the small song that has lingered in my mind ever since.

I bring it up today because I'm thinking that's what we may need soon...

It will take "an angry mop" to clean up the mess.

You see, few taxpayers realize the full extent of the pledges our Government has made to supposedly fix the financial system and jump start the economy. We hear numbers like $1 or $2 Trillion here, $838 Billion there. What's the tally, really?

According to a recent Bloomberg story: We're on the hook for $9.7 trillion!

And that's before Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's vague plan for the remaining TARP funds and new TALF plan.

To give you some idea of what $9.7 Trillion could do:

The $9.7 trillion in pledges would be enough to send a $1,430 check to every man, woman and child alive in the world. It's 13 times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and is almost enough to pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve. [link]

Think about it.

Seriously.

Just think about it for a minute.

Now...

You and I both know what happens when you use your credit card too much, or you need to borrow funds to pay for that emergency that came out of the blue, or...

We can't keep robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Eventually, even friends and family can't help.

Sooner or later, we have to pay for it.

The payment for this latest Stimulus Spending Bill will begin in approximately 10 years -- long after the current administration is gone. In addition, the deficits it creates during its term(s?) will be added to the balance. They have this endless pot (pit?) to pull from and don't really have to worry about paying for any of it.

Because, as they've reminded us several times over the past several weeks, they won.

"We won." the President says.

"We won." Pelosi says.

"We won." Several other Dems and their PR reps gleefully exclaim.

"We won." Millions of voters cried out with tears streaming down their faces.

Who lost?

The Republicans?

Get a grip, people.

For those of you getting your water from the watershed below Mattoon, Illinois... in about 30 years or less, you might have acid running through your pipes and into your homes thanks to this new Bill that shovels $2 Billion into that particular project that I've already called to your attention.

You don't want to listen? Then it's your problem.

It's not gonna happen?

Yeah. Okay... Guess you don't recall the small vibrations felt throughout the State after the teeny earthquake of late. Some of us discovered the fault line running through this region... and we care -- a lot -- about what could happen 1.3 miles underground.

Some don't care.

That's what makes those of us who really do care so frustrated, and yes, even angry.

Reminds me of another song.

"We didn't start the fire."

But, when the time comes, we're all going to be working really hard to put it out.

Maybe we shouldn't care, either?

Maybe we should just step right up and take a sip of that thar' koolaide y'all bin drinkin' lately.

Senator Schumer says the American people don't care about the pork built into the Bill.

I'd hate to make a man like that right.

So I guess this little work at home mom will just have to stand by, ready and waiting, with her mop.

Because there's going to be one hellacious mess to clean up.