An Open Letter to the United States Congress

Although in the past, I have written in good humor with open letters, this is not one of those times.  This is an out and out gripe fest to the idiots that have been elected to run our country.

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Dear Congress,

I am appalled with the Republicans refusal to compromise.  Do your job or lose your job.  In case you are wondering my exact position on this whole debt ceiling thing here you go:

1) I am tired of hearing about it.  Absolutely sick of it.

2) I blame the Republicans for walking away from the table repeatedly while they try and pander to the idiots who think they are "taxed enough already" and don't actually bother to see that their views and requests of their Representatives are actually more damaging to them than what is happening now.

3) For God's sake RAISE TAXES FOR THE WEALTHY.  It is NOT fair that my tax burden as an unemployed, recent college graduate and my husband's as a grad student who works more than he is paid for, is more than people who make the high 6 figures.  That is ridiculous.  I am more than happy to pay taxes for the programs I believe that this country needs.  I am not ok with the rich people doing nothing to help their country.  I can't do it by myself.

4) STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO OIL COMPANIES AND OTHER MAJOR CORPORATIONS WHO USE AND ABUSE THEM.  If everyone paid the same tax structure that we did under Clinton we could reduce the deficit so fast!  Forget Clinton, what about the Republican's golden boy, Reagan's tax structure?

5) End Corn subsidies.  End them now.  Reinstate the FDA's and the USDA's ability to fine the companies and meat packing industries who break the laws.  You want to subsidize something? Subsidize healthy foods that don't make this country sick.  HFCS is TERRIBLE for you, but it's impossible to avoid it because the government has made it so cheap to use.

6) And one final request for you and all of your colleagues: Put what's right for this country instead of what is right for re-election.  Grown a pair and actually help this country instead of hurt it.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jenny Jensen
A Concerned and Angry American

P.S. I also support excise taxes.

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Thank you all for your patience as I resist the urge to knock all of Congress' heads together until they pull them out of their major donor's bums.

This letter was sent directly to my district's Representative, Mike Rogers and to John Boehner.  Except with an extra "I'm disappointed in you" thrown in for Boehner's letter.  I did expand on a few things here that I didn't in the letters to them.

Black Friday - Why I Do It

A lot of people blast Black Friday for it's encouragement of consumerism and debt.  A lot of which, unfortunately, is true.  There are many people out there who use Black Friday as an excuse to spend all kinds of money they might not otherwise because "it's such a good price!"  It is that mindset that helped send us into this economic downturn, because everyone started spending more than they could ever pay back in mortgages, credit card debt, etc.  And the banks didn't help by approving loans that counted overtime as regular income, loans that had ARMs so ridiculous, no one would be able to pay it back and to people who didn't have very good credit to begin with.

However, there are other people, like me, who go Black Friday shopping because there are things that we need to get that we had been putting off because we didn't want to spend the money to pay full price.  I have been wearing the same boots since my freshman year of high school - nine years ago.  My jeans were too big (yay weight loss!) so I needed a new pair or two.  Now, I'm not saying I didn't splurge a little more than I normally would, but buying one sweater on final clearance or three pairs of underwear that would normally been $14 each (that were only $4 Friday morning) isn't breaking the bank.

There is a fine line that needs to be walked when it comes to going shopping on Black Friday.  It's a good time to get something that you have been putting off getting because you don't want to buy something full price.  It's not a good reason to spend so much money that you are still trying to pay off the debt from last year's excursions on Black Friday while planning your excursion for this year. 

So, I go Black Friday shopping for need, not want.  But shopping for want is not bad, within reason.

Or, as my sister-in-law so eloquently puts it, "I'm never going Black Friday shopping just to wake up early, stand in line and punch someone in the face for the last thing."

Hope your Thanksgiving was awesome, whether you celebrated or not!