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Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
06.24 Mr. Holder, You Must Hold Torturers Accountable Health & Environment
06.29 Thinking about Climate 06.26 False Health-Scare Ad on CNN 06.25 Louella Learns the Limits of Medicare 06.23 The Simple Answer to America’s Health Care Crisis: Medicare for All 06.23 Tell ABC: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate 06.23 Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex 06.22 Thinking about Recoveries 06.20 Obama's Health Care Waterloo 06.15 Obama, Like Clinton Before Him, is Blowing the Chance for Real Health Care Reform 06.11 Two Key Health-Care Numbers 06.10 Big Breakthroughs for Single Payer Health Care 06.10 Readying Americans for Dangerous, Mandatory Vaccinations Media Watching
06.29 WP's Connolly Back, on Health Reform 06.17 Hypocrisy and Hope: Western Coverage, Iranian Courage 06.15 Excusing Outrages of the Right 06.11 Tying Obama to Bush's Budget Mess US Politics, Policy & Culture
06.30 Obama's Torture Hypocrisy 06.30 Court Circular: Annals of Imperial Continuity 06.29 Obama, They Want You to Fail 06.26 Who to Trust on a Truth Commission? 06.26 Tarnished Shields: The Morally Bankrupt 'Family Values' Republican Leadership 06.25 America's "Bases of Empire" 06.24 Twelve Angry White People: Jury Nullification in a Pennsylvania Coal Town 06.24 Touring Empire's Ruins 06.23 Employers are Undermining the Economic Stimulus Program 06.19 Criminalizing Dissent: Obama Pot Calls Iranian Kettle Black 06.17 Afghanistan's Operation Phoenix 06.16 Are You Ready for War with a Demonized Iran? 06.13 Where's the Anger as the Wheels Come Off Obama's and the Democrats' Recovery Program? 06.10 Waiving the Rules for Old Glory 06.10 Obama's Era of Openness Is Closed High Crimes?
07.03 Reviewing Marjorie Cohn and Kathleen Gilberd's "Rules of Disengagement" 07.01 Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure 06.25 It's All Good, Again: 'Uptick' in the American-Made Tides of Violence in Iraq 06.22 Obama Opposes Plame-gate Release 06.21 Dexter's Legions: The "Good" Killers of the "Good" War 06.18 Extending the Tradition: Proudly Taking American Torture Into the Future 06.15 New UN Report Denounces America's Human Rights Record 06.14 Fear Rules Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
07.01 Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism:" The Economic Strategy of Imperial America 06.23 Obama's Financial Reform Proposal - A Stealth Scheme for Global Monetary Control 06.10 Cyberscares About Cyberwars Equal Cybermoney International
07.01 Pirates of the Mediterranean 06.29 Color Revolutions, Old and New 06.25 Iran Divided & the 'October Suprise' 06.23 Astringent Corrective: AbuKhalil on Iran's Turmoil 06.20 Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?” 06.20 Through a Glass Darkly: Sifting Myth and Fact on Iran 06.19 Iran's Election and US - Iranian Elections 06.16 The Ir-Af-Pak War: Obama Looses the Manhunters 06.12 Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS:The Words of the 'Profits' Are Written in the 'Congress Halls'No way do the numbers being released to the public pass the “straight face” test.
I’ve been thinking about stewardship. Actually I’ve been thinking about Matthew 25: 14-30, the 10 talents, elections, truth, February, the costs of war, and the sounds of silence. Last Thursday our Senate voted to once again raise the ceiling on our National Debt to almost $9 TRILLION. Yes, $ 9 TRILLION! The vote was 52 to 48 in favor of the increase—strictly along party lines. The House of Representatives had already approved the increase when it passed a 2006 budget blueprint bill. Is this good stewardship? Who deserves to continue in their offices?You see, the Matthew 25 teachings deal with stewardship and the parable of the 10 talents. A master entrusted three of his servants with his money—one received 5 talents, another received 2 talents, and the third 1 talent. In his absence, the first two worked diligently and doubled the master’s money, while the third merely returned the one talent intact. Upon his return, the master rewarded the first two for their diligent stewardship, but cast the third out into the darkness. Now... think of voters as “the master” and our elected officials as “the servants” (of all the people). How would/should we, the master(s), react in knowing that what we had entrusted to our servants was all gone, and that we now “owed” even more? Truth is hidden from US/us out in the open because the truth is “protected” by a palace guard of lies. We are told that the economy is going great guns and that tax cuts will generate more revenue. But be aware of this: Uncle $ugar is on a cash basis of accounting; recognizing revenues when received and expenses when paid. Normally in the first months of the calendar year there are “surpluses” because payments are coming in anticipation of the income tax filings due on the prior year’s income. February 2006 numbers just released showed a $119 BILLION deficit! No way do the numbers being released to the public pass the “straight face” test. Does THAT show us that the economy is booming and that tax revenues are increasing? Last week, we learned that the projected costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will increase from $6.8 BILLION a month to $ 9.8 BILLION a month—a jump of 44%. Will this really prove to be enough? Given the present saber rattling toward Iran, can we truly afford yet another invasion/war? Trust me when I say that peace and diplomacy are a heck of a lot cheaper in terms of both dollars and lives. Immediately after raising the debt ceiling by $781 BILLION—the fourth MEGA increase during the Bush Presidency (with almost two-and-a-half more years to go); Congress authorized another $92 BILLION more for the wars and Katrina/Rita relief. What kind of stewardship is that? The very day the debt ceiling was increased, the outstanding debt jumped by $1 BILLION to $8,271 BILLION from the $8,270 BILLION, where it had effectively “languished” since March 2. The game being played with the “cash basis accounting” and “honoring the sanctity” of the debt ceiling precluded Uncle $ugar from paying the bills. At the old ceiling of $8.2 TRILLION, $3,460 BILLION was already “misappropriated” from accumulated Social Security surpluses and other trust/retirement funds under Uncle’s "stewardship," and spent elsewhere. To honor those obligations, we will be told that we must “re-fund” that which was already paid for by us. In all the states, there are good candidates/stewards out there who understand the madness of the profligate spending and the wanton misuse of debt. Find them, support them, and vote for them.
We the people can no longer remain silent in our disgust over their “stewardship.” “The words of the ‘profits’ are written in the ‘Congress halls’... and the visions that were planted in my brain, still remain... echoing the sounds of silence.” In all the states, there are good candidates/stewards out there who understand the madness of the profligate spending and the wanton misuse of debt. Find them, support them, and vote for them. And... HOLD them to their campaign rhetoric. Do not accept excuses from incumbents for failing to deliver on their prior promises; cast them out into the darkness. Make it clear to ALL candidates that they will be held accountable and that the coming “Election Day” in November will become the “Judgment Day." I'm Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too. Copyright 2006 Questions, Inc. All rights reserved. Fred Cederholm is a CPA/CFE, a forensic accountant, and writer. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.A., M.A. and M.A.S.). He can be reached at asklet@rochelle.net. To “audit” this column and to learn more about the subjects discussed, please check out: Copyright © 2006 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on March 22, 2006. |
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