SOCIAL SECURITY REVISITED, COURTESY OF CONGRESSMAN DO-NOTHING DOOLITTLE

Now that Bush’s 2007 budget is out and he has inserted his failed Social Security privatization plan, it might be time for the voters of Placer County to remember the embarrassing and ill prepared forum that our Abramoff/DeLay cohort, John Doolittle, held. You recall the president frantically circling America trying to convince us that we would be better off depending on the proceeds that fee-gouging banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions would make for us. Never mind the fluctuations, which can deplete an account if you happen to retire during a “down” market.  One of the offshoots of Bush’s efforts was to encourage (translate: order) Republican Senators and Congressmen and women to hold town meetings in order to convince us that our Dictator-in-Chief knows best what’s best for Americans. 
 
I knew comparatively little about Doolittle since I had only lived in California for a few years. Having been represented by Abner Mikva and Jan Schakowsky for much of my adult life, I was embarrassed to see Doolittle in action and realize that he is my Congressman. That means a majority of voters in Placer County voted for him, despite the coincidence of his name and his actions in Congress. Right now he’s flying all over Auburn trying to justify the building of a $5 billion dam over an earthquake fault. Why worry about flooding out the area. He’s like every other politician who feels the need to leave some monument behind if you can’t get your face on Mt. Rushmore. Of course, the profits that his building buddies would make if the state and federal governments are crazy enough to come up with the money are not to be overlooked.
 
But back to Doolittle’s forum where I had my first good look at this ignorant public servant. He admitted at the beginning of his presentation that he was only there because he was asked to hold a meeting by Speaker Hastert. He didn’t even pretend that he was there to inform his constituents.  After all, how could he make such a statement? He didn’t have the vaguest understanding of what the privatization plan meant. He only followed orders like a good soldier.
 
Doolittle, like our dear President, admitted that the Social Security trust fund bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, but also called them worthless pieces of paper. At the rate Bush is going, every piece of paper, be it T-bills, T notes or bonds, will be worthless no matter who owns them. After all, foreign governments as well as Americans hold these “worthless pieces of paper”. I can just see us defaulting on our debt to China. Since they supply important pieces of our military armament, that should be jolly good fun telling them we won’t pay what we owe. Bush and Doolittle obviously feel no such compunction in defaulting on the debt owed to the American public in the form of the Social Security Trust Fund. The trillions of Trust Fund dollars that are being gleefully spent to conduct a war in Iraq and preserve tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires have certainly escaped the “lock box” that Bush promised when he was running in 2000. I don’t think most Placer County residents are on the poverty rolls, but few, if any, are billionaires.
 
When one of the attendees at the meeting pointed out that Social Security is a minor problem when compared with the $7.7 trillion (that was one year and a half trillion dollars ago) National Debt. The $2 trillion surplus should have been truly held in trust if Reagan had not put his hands in the pockets of workers, upped the percentage of Social Security funds paid into the Fund without increasing benefits, (the extra money was for the soon to retire baby boomers) and proceeded to give tax increases to the wealthy. You remember that old slogan, “deficits don’t matter.” I wonder how deep a hole we have to dig ourselves into before they do matter.
 
The need for private accounts is based on a poor economy, which will hurt the growth of Social Security. But Doolittle then turned around and painted a rosy picture of the economy to provide the promised stock market results. Given our ever-growing debt, sinking dollar, and obscene trade deficits, it’s hard to believe a retiree can do better in the stock market than with the guaranteed return promised by the present Social Security system. But Doolittle served as just one more “shill” to sell the president’s program. Now that privatization is back on the table, I wonder what new words of wisdom Doolittle will have for the voters of Placer County.

- Marlene Rose


SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: DOOLITTLE WAS ACTUALLY DOING A LOT!

Funny how we haven't heard much about the on-going investigation of a number of crooked Republican congressmen who the now-imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham admitted were also taking bribes, in all likelihood, Duncan Hunter, Jerry Lewis, Bob Ney, John Doolittle, Katherine Harris and Virgil Goode, Jr. Today's SAN DIEGO UNION, lays out the case against one of California's most corrupt congressmen ever, John Doolittle, and his larcenous wife, Julie. It is the best record yet of Doolittle's criminal relationship with Republican defense contractor Mitchell Wade, and how hefty bribes were routinely turned into multimillion dollar scams and rip-offs.

Much of the bribe money was funneled through Doolittle's wife's fake consulting company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions (which she "runs" out of the Doolittle home in wealthy Virginia suburb of DC). Once the Doolittles let it be known that John's vote and influence on the House Appropriations Committee was for sale, the bribes-- in the form of 15% commissions-- started flowing into the Abramoff-connected "home business." So far $180,000 has been discovered from just this one particular Doolittle scam.

Doolittle is one of the more egregiously corrupt members of Congress, on a level with Tom DeLay and Bob Ney and far beyond the grab-and-run tactics of cheap crooks like Katherine Harris and Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The voters of the 4th congressional district shouldn't wait until after Doolittle and his wife are rotting in prison cells. They should act now and replace this disgrace to our state and our country. From what I've seen of Charlie Brown one of the Democrats who is challenging Doolittle, the voters in Northern California have a perfect alternative.