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The Herman Cain smear campaign is in full swing and is starting to get interesting. What is going on? Is this bad for the GOP?

Politico ran a story reporting that during the 1990s when Cain was in charge of the National Restaurant Association, two female employees complained of sexual harassment from Cain and subsequently left their positions.

After this story broke, there was a lot of speculation on where the leak came from. Sean Hannity suggested it was a democratic smear campaign trying to manipulate the GOP primary elections. Erick Erickson, of Redstate.com, pointed out that it was probably opposition research from another GOP candidate that provided the details to Politico.

Since the story broke, the Cain campaign has come out and accused Rick Perry’s camp of leaking the sexual harassment story to Politico. Rick Perry has denied knowing about the story until it broke on Politico, but his campaign has suggested that it was in fact Mitt Romney’s campaign that leaked the story. There have even been reports that Rahm Emanuel was involved. The whole thing is starting to look really ugly.

Does the political mud-slinging and back and forth between the top three candidates spell disaster for the GOP. I think this is a bad road to go down for the GOP, but what do you think?

I am know where near rich and I pay a decent chunk of taxes.  Although, I can stand to probably pay more, I don’t want to pay that much more.  When I break the $200,000 salary line, I definitely don’t want to pay more, but I know that will likely not be the case.

And at the time I can see me having a problem with it.

• Why should I pay more, when certain people sit at home every day (by choice) while I work daily.
• Why should I pay more, when I attended school and applied my brain to get where I am and others did not.
• Why should I pay more, when take care of my family and need no assistance from the government’s food, housing, or financial systems.
• Why should I pay more, when I already pay more than triple the average working person

I mean the rich are obviously rich because of sound educational, financial, and/or business decisions.  If I chose to set goals in those arenas and reach them, why punish me more and more because the country cannot support itself when I already contribute just like the next Joe.  I donate annually and I am naturally a philanthropist to areas of personal concern.  So how much of me money do you want?!

The United States government is majority run by two particular parties: Democrats and Republicans.  I find it odd that our first President spoke directly against this.  President Washington, during his farewell speech, stated that political parties are a danger to the government and country as a whole.  Shortly thereafter, Thomas Jefferson created the Democratic-Republican party to oppose Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist party, which was started in 1791.  The Federalist primary goal – to promote the interest of certain regions and areas of Americans over others.

Fast forward current day and we have not had a President to be elected that was not apart of either the Democratic or Republican group since 1852.  Unlike other countries, we have an all or none system where the person with the greatest percentage wins.  The British Parliament and other European countries employ the proportional representation approach.  With this method, each party receives a certain percentage of the votes and thus gets a certain percentage of the seats of Parliament.  They have had up to 15 different groups represented.

From my viewpoint, the Democrats and Republicans run this country.  Most Americans affiliate with either side and go along with their decisions prior to even listening to all the options.  In my opinion, these groups prevent our representatives from thinking of the people they truly represent and voting with them in mind.  Recently with the Debt Ceiling storm cloud, no reps reached out to their people.  To me – that is sad.   The President had to make an outcry to citizens to reach out to their representative and plead for results.  …which is truly sad.

You may feel like I do, you may not.  So here’s your chance to voice your opinion.

I once heard someone say they only thing that you “have” to do is pay taxes. I didn’t think much of it then as it was in my younger years but now I totally understand.  If there is one thing that the government will move heaven and earth to do is get your tax money.  That’s right.  Kill someone and we’ll drag that out for 5 years, but if you don’t pay your taxes, we’re sending someone to your front door step in 6 months and we will pay for this one person’s expenses as you rummage through your paperwork for the past three years.

We all contribute a fair amount to the tax revenue fund.  The government sucks about $2.5 trillion from us yearly.  And your pennies count.  However, groups like the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party believe that the government is milking us.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis seem to think otherwise as they believe we pay a minimal percentage of our personal income.  According to 2006 data, we were 5th lowest in terms of tax percentage.  Denmark, France, U.K., and Germany led the list.  Denmark whips out a lavish 42% – 60% tax rate. Most US citizens fall within the 25% tax rate (based off average income).

Given that tidbit, do you really think you pay more than is necessary.  Should the government give you a few duckies back?

In only thinking of the current President and the previous two, their before and after (after leaving office) pictures are significantly different.  It is very obvious to see the wear that the seat places on the person in position.

I’m convinced.  How about you?

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According to Ritholtz.com the United States is owned by the following parties:

• 42.1% U.S. Individuals and Institutions
• 17.9% Social Security Trust Fund
• 11.7% All Other Foreign Nations
• 9.5% China (and Hong Kong)
• 6.3% Japan
• 6% U.S. Civil Service Retirement Fund
• 1.4% United Kingdom
• 2.1% U.S. Military Retirement Fund
• 1.6% Oil Exporters
• 1.3% Brazil

I’ll be honest.  I was operating under the assumption that China owned way more of the U.S. than 9.5%.  Which entry is the most surprising to you?

I’m a pretty smart guy.  Even with my vast intelligence there are a things that I don’t understand.  One of the things that I’ve yet to figure out is the government’s stance on participation when it comes to the census and voting.  Think about it.

The census occurs every ten years.  The government employs a task force of people to canvass neighborhoods and ensure participation.  Nonpartisan commercials are all over the place.  The government sends no less that 5 mailings to your house during the census.  The 1st mailing is informational.  The 2nd mailing is suggestive.  By the time you get the 5th mailing good ‘ole Uncle Sam is threatening to tap your phone if you don’t send in your form.

Contrast that with elections (of any kind).  I’ve never received one mailing from the government demanding that I vote.  I’ve never seen a nonpartisan commercial requesting that everyone get out and vote.  I have the feeling that I never will.

None of this is news to anyone.  However, it does beg the question.

Government Shutdown

In U.S. politics, a government shutdown is said to occur when the government no longer provides “non-essential” services. Typically, services that continue despite a shutdown include police, firefighting, armed forces, utilities, air traffic management, and corrections.

If you haven’t heard, we may possibly face a government shutdown today.  Due to the disagreement on how to resolve the federal budget deficit, our government has decided to enact a shutdown.  I know you’re wondering what this means for you.  So check this out:

• Wasted taxpayer dollars for wages of federal workers who will not report to work
• Social security monies, claims, and card issuance will cease
• No FHA mortgage loans which is what most middle class families depend on to buy homes
• If you’ve been receiving VA benefits, you might want to wait until they turn the government back on
• Need a passport – oh well
• Law enforcement, federal cases, recruiting, or hiring all gone.  Sorry ladies, no child support cases.
• Don’t attempt to visit those wonderful parks, they won’t be open.
• You may want to wait to apply for Medicare

Interesting, huh?  I know many of you are thinking, “none of that affects me”, but for several millions it does.  But rest assured our government officials will be ok.  According to Congress.org, “Under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, members of Congress ‘shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.’”

So let’s see how the people feel.