Warren Buffet on Fixing the Economy/Congress

[Bill Mac]

Got this in an e-mail this morning. Didn't check out the story since my search had several videos of Warren Buffet on CNBC interviews and I couldn't tell which one dealt with this topic. This is what we need to do, specifically with Congress. Even if this isn't exactly what he said, it is an excellent idea. Everyone should post this on their Facebook and social media accounts. Of course, Congress would have to vote on these amendments and we all know that will never happen until we can start to make inroads into the sitting members of Congress through voting them out.
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 one (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 2012

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're 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/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women 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.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time?

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

 

[Dave70968]

"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.”

This would have to be an Amendment, not "just ... a law." SCOTUS has already passed judgment on laws that restrict Congressional eligibility to anything more stringent than the Constitutional requirements.

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 one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.

And you don't see an amendment against the interest of the people who would have to vote to pass it being a bit more challenging to pass than one that is either neutral or in their favor?

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

Congress participates in the Civil Service Retirement System, the same as other Federal employees. The myth of "one term in Congress and you get a pension for life" is just that: a myth.

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.

Again, the Congressional retirement system is the same as other Federal employees. Congress is participating with the other 1.8 million civil servants.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

Again, see above.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

This one is actually a good idea, though CPI is still subject to huge amounts of political manipulation...like they're doing right now.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

...the system where the employer provides coverage, and that coverage varies based on what the employer decides to provide? Granted, Congress provides a particularly good plan, but so do some other employers--matter of fact, if we think all the way back to the passage of Obamacare, one of the proposals for funding was a tax on "Cadillac" plans, which would have hit UAW workers.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

This is already the law. That said, it takes a prosecutor to bring a case. How do you propose to solve the problem of finding a high-level government actor who wants to bring charges against his colleagues, colleagues who have the power to defund his office and his existence? Implementation details matter.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women 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.

Even if this didn't blatantly violate the most basic principles of contracts (the idea that promises ought to be kept), bringing the full faith and credit of the United States into disrepute, we already have a method for sending them home and back to productive work. It's called the ballot box. As long as We, The People keep voting these clowns in, there's no way we can change the system by passing a law. We're getting what we deserve here; if you want to change it, go change the culture, or we'll just keep getting more of the same.

And yes, I know that's a lot harder than Warren's soundbite.