Notes from the sage and me.

Food for thought.

Warren Buffett, in a recent  interview with CNBC, offers one of the     best quotes about the debt ceiling: "I could  end the deficit in 5  minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a  law that says that  anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of  GDP, all sitting  members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.  The 26th amendment (granting the  right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only  3 months & 8 days  to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people  demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell  phones, etc.  Of  the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7)  took 1 year or  less to become the law of the land...all because of  public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward  this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in  turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in  The United States of America will have the message. This is one  idea that really should be passed around. *Congressional Reform  Act of 2011* 1. No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of  office. 2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social  Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to  the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into  the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the  American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3.  Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all  Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote  themselves a pay  raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5.  Congress loses their current health care system and participates in  the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress  must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are  void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this  contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts  for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The  Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should  serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. And here's my 2 cents. Wages Salary of retired US Presidents .............$450,000  FOR LIFE  Salary of Speaker of the House .............$223,500  FOR LIFE Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders .....$193,400  FOR LIFE Average salary of a soldier DEPLOYED IN        Afganistan- $38.000 Average income for seniors on    SOCIAL SECURITY - $12,000 "nuff said"