November 16, 2009

The Thanksgiving Feel
You know that feeling on Thanksgiving night. After several helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, not to mention the beer, wine, and pumpkin pie, the feeling hits. That bloated, not able to move quickly, unable to make good decisions feeling that is almost like a stupor. Is this Thanksgiving or modern day democracy? On Saturday, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle published an article describing how the average US Senator has up to $3.3 million to spend on payroll for his/her staff. $3.3 million on payroll to support whatever it is that they do. And the most populous states (like NY) give Senators an additionally $1 million towards payrolls. According to the SBA, a business that has $3 million in payroll usually employs 70-98 people on average. Puff your cheeks out and feel it. By the way, throw in the House of Representatives and their $1.5 million in staffing/office expenses and the taxpayers are spending about $1 BILLION dollars per year to support our lawmakers. Stocks are climbing as business has realized that they need to be lean and mean to survive. Productivity numbers are up along with unemployment. Maybe the federal government should take a page from private business, and begin to shrink their numbers big time. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.