C_O_N_G_R_E_S_S'     T_O_-_D_O    L_I_S_T

• Constitutional violations:  Congress is violating Article V of the U.S. Constitution, despite 633+ amendment applications by the state legislatures of ALL 50 states.
• Corruption and mismanagement within government is threatening the future and security of the nation.  While it is not the responsibility of the government to take care of people from cradle-to-grave,  it is the responsibility of the government to enforce the laws, tax fairly,  manage the monetary system responsibly,  not peddle influence,  not cater only to those that abuse vast amounts of money to control government, and provide for the national defense.  For decades, the government has been failing us miserably in most, if not all of those areas.  And, we are failing ourselves by rewarding and empowering those irresponsible incumbent politicians by   repeatedly re-electing them, and allowing the nation's pressing problems to grow in number and severity.
• Pork-Barrel,  graft,  bribes,  corporate welfare,  and  waste  is costing U.S. tax-payers hundreds of billions per year.  Yet, it continues as government continues to grow ever larger to nightmare proportions.   What is needed to reduce pork-barrel is a no-brainer, common-sense solution:    ONE-PURPOSE-PER-BILL .
• Eminent Domain Abuse is a classic example of  legal plunder via perversion of the laws to do the very things the laws were supposed prevent.  And, sadly, it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Revolving Door Syndrome: While innocent people are being incarcerated (and even executed occasionally; 23 since year 1900), repeat offenders are released repeatedly to commit the same crimes of rape, child molestation, and murder, over and over.
• Campaign Finance Reform:  Government is essentially FOR-SALE.  99.85% of all 200 million eligible voters are vastly out-spent by a very tiny 0.15% of all eligible voters who  make 83% of all federal campaign donations (of $200 or more), and abuse vast wealth to control and influence government.  90% of elections are won by the candidate that spends the most money, giving rise to an elitist and arrogant government.   1% of the wealthiest in the U.S. have 40% (and growing) of all wealth in the nation.  Some abuse vast amounts of money to control government, and rob the middle-to-lower-class-income groups of an equal voice in government.   Irresponsible Incumbent politicians are bought-and-paid-for, but unfortunately, too many voters continue to repeatedly reward those same politicians with 95%-to-88% re-election rates.
• Election Reform:  What good is voting if voters can't get an accurate vote-count?   How can an accurate vote be obtained without accurate identification to prove citizenship and eligibility to vote?   If Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) can dispense cash reliably and update bank balances, why can't voting machines reliably count votes, provide a paper trail, and provide each voter with a unique number to match to a database listing and record of the votes?  Unfair and illegal barriers are preventing third party candidates from getting access to election ballots, limiting voting choices and candidates, and helping to increase the security of the incumbent politicians' incumbencies, as evidenced by Congress' 85%-to-90% re-election rates, and 90% of elections are won by the candidate that spends the most  money.  And  Gerrymandering is defrauding the voters via deceptive manipulation of geographical boundaries.  Also, the winner-take-all style elections are not providing the best choices to voters, which could be improved by an Approval Voting system.
• Dysfunctional and Corrupt Legal System:  The legal system is dysfunctional, and applies the laws selectively.  Some people are above the law,  such as the many politicians that often receive presidential pardons.  Even if ever indicted, convicted, and incarcerated, they can get a presidential pardon.  Who says crime doesn't pay?   Too many greedy, corrupt, and parasitic ambulance chasers,  and idiotic juries allowing astronomical judgments for personal injury litigation with million$ and billion$ going to lawyers (a manifestation of unchecked greed),  is bankrupting systems and making healthcare unaffordable.  Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S., because there is no reliable form of identification (e.g. biometrics, such as iris and/or finger-print and/or voice-print, and/or hand-print, and/or thermal facial geometry patterns, etc.).  
• Median Incomes incomes have fallen since 1999.  Income levels are not the responsibility of the government,  but it is the responsibility of the government to enforce the laws to discourage  corporate fraud,  cooking the books (i.e. the SEC has failed to regulate and prosecute all violators),  investor fraud,  stock fraud,  monopolies,  abuse by corporations to cheat employees and consumers,  stop illegal immigration,  stop discrimination,  and other manifestations of unchecked greed that all amount to warfare on most American workers.
• The 40 hour work week is now more like 50+ hours (and also, typically 2 workers per household).  
• Globalization and outsourcing is contributing to falling incomes, increasing foreign competition, and declined manufacturing in the U.S.  Will Americans forget how to make anything?  Could the massive loss of our manufacturing base possibly become an issue of national security?   It is a  race to the bottom.  It's not strictly a global village.  It's more like global pillage.  Government is selling out its citizens and catering only to some that abuse vast amounts of money to control government.
• A tiny 1% of the total U.S. population of 305 million now has 40% (and growing) of all wealth (up 20% since 1980).  From 2002 to 2006, many corporations were reporting record profits, while median wages have fallen since 1999.  The low and middle-income-classes are being squeezed.  It all reads like a "How To for Dummies" book on "How, As a Nation, To Commit Suicide".  By the way, the U.S. Congress has given itself a raise 9 times between 1997 to 2007.  
• Foreclosures (nationwide) are rising, and have been for the last two years (846,982 in 2005, over 1.2 million in 2006, 2.0 million in 2007, and 220,000 per month in the first part of year 2008). 
  
• Inflation is eroding the U.S. Dollar, due to the dishonest, usurious, inflationary, monetary system which is really an upside-down pyramid-scheme, as evidenced by the fact that no one can answer one simple question:  Where the money will come from to merely pay the INTEREST on $57 Trillion of nation-wide debt, much less the money to reduce the PRINCIPAL and keep it from growing ever larger to nightmare proportions, when that money does not yet exist (e.g. DEBT = PRINCIPAL + INTEREST)?   See more about this below. 
• 580,000 jobs (net) were lost between 2000-to-2006, and many of the jobs created since (several hundred thousand) were within the government, which continues to grow and grow to nightmare proportions.   There are now more jobs within government than manufacturing.  Unemployment statistics are difficult to measure and government often attempts to under-report unemployment.
• There are signs of growing poverty.  The lower and middle-income-classes are getting squeezed. 
• The disparity trend is worsening, and these numerous abuses did not all come about by mere coincidence over the last 30+ years.
• Habeas Corpus
• Torture; water-boarding is already illegal, based on the U.S. laws and International Treaty.
• Crime rates are increasing (after falling for many years).
• Yet, despite all of the above (such as Congress giving itself a raise 9 times between 1997 and 2007), it is a disgrace that many U.S. veterans of war are not receiving adequate medical care and promised benefits (while Congress does this).

Where will the money will come from to merely pay the INTEREST on $57 Trillion of nation-wide debt,  much less the money to reduce the PRINCIPAL and keep it from growing ever larger to nightmare proportions, when that money does not yet exist (e.g. DEBT = PRINCIPAL + INTEREST)?   Especially when 80% of the U.S. population owns only 17% of all wealth in the U.S. ?

For example,  see what $100.00 shrinks to for the current (as of AUG-2008) 5.37% inflation, after N years: 

 
And that is why the

is already falling like a rock:
USD -to- EURO

USD -to- Chinese Yuan


USD -to- Japanese Yen


USD -to- Danish Krone


USD -to- British Pound

USD -to- Brazilian Real

It has fallen significantly against all major international currencies for over 5 years.  That is why the double-digit inflation of the late 1970s and early 1980's was so devastating.  That is what is making foreign investors in the U.S. National Debt a bit nervous.  It is also a moral issue.  To really understand why the dishonest fiat-funny-money monetary system and excessive money-printing is so popular among bankers, government, some utopian economists, and the business community, you need to understand how it gives them power and influence.  It puts money in their hands, first, early in the circulation cycle, before the currency loses its value due to inflation.  This dishonest fiat funny-money system shifts the losses to others that don't understand how they are being cheated, and how it erodes their savings, retirements, and fixed incomes.  Inflation is like a REGRESSIVE tax, since the poor are limited in ways of preserving wealth with property, gold, stocks, homes, etc.  The poor and those dependent on fixed incomes can not keep up with the rising cost of living.  So median incomes continue to fall (as they have since 1999). Predatory interest rates and lending practices (i.e. raising Adjustable Rate Mortgages from 6% to 14%) are wide-spread.  And the banks get the interest on the money created out of thin air.  In addition to that, when some debtors default on their loan (exacerbated by skyrocketing Adjustable Rate Mortgages and predatory lending practices), the bank then can confiscate real property, which essentially converts the loan money printed out of thin air into real property and assets.  Cha-Ching !

In a voting nation, an educated electorate is paramount. 
The uneducated, as usual, are often abused and exploited.
Those choosing to remain ignorant do so a great peril, because there are always some looking for ways to exploit others.
Either way, the voters will get their Education one way or another, and the voters will have the government that they deserve.
Education Solutions . . .

• Arable Land (land that can grow crops):  Of the Earth's 57 million square miles of land, approximately 12 million square miles are arable.  However, arable land is being lost at the rate of over 38,610 square miles per year.  At that rate, all arable land could be lost in 310 years !  (12 million square miles / 38,610 square miles per year).
• Global Warming:  Pollution and damage to the atmosphere, land, and water is a growing problem.  Trillions of tons of green-house gases are being released into the atmosphere.  Depletion of the ozone is destroying our protection against harmful radiation and global warming.  The current scientific consensus is that most global warming since 1950 is most likely attributable to human activities. The extent of this consensus was the subject of a study (published in December 2004 in the journal Science) of  928 refereed abstract scientific articles in the Institute for Scientific Information citation database identified with the keywords "global climate change".  This study concluded that 75% of the 928 articles either explicitly or implicitly accepted the consensus view.
• World Over-Population: Many areas can not sustain their populations, resulting in poverty, starvation, disease, crime, etc.  How many people can the planet support.  The current world population of 6.68 billion people is growing by 249,000 per day!   That's only 5.46 acres per person!  By 2039, at the current level of growth, the population could grow to 13 billion. That's only 2.81 acres per person!

• The additional cost the first year is $43.3 billion (13,175 recipients per day x $9,000.00 of entitlements benefits per year per recipient x 365 days per year).
• The additional cost is $86.6 billion per year more by the 2nd year.
• The additional cost is $130 billion per year more by year 3.
• The additional cost is $216 billion per year more by year 5.
• There are already 45 million pre-existing Social Security and Medicare recipients.
• That could climb significantly in only 5 years (13,175 recipients per day x 365 days per year x 5 years) = 24 million.