Christmas Candy

As I was taking down the Christmas tree I discovered hidden in the branches a candy cane I had missed earlier. The candy comes from the bill that was supposed to save us all, if only for two months, from falling off the fiscal cliff. It permits retired seniors such as myself to reduce our taxable income in 2012 and 2013 by applying our Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from our IRA accounts directly to our charitable donations. If we were going to make the donations anyway that means the government doesn't take a bite out of them first.

The question I have is: What was that provision doing in a bill that was supposed to be saving us from fiscal disaster? It reduces the amount of money that our government receives to pay our national debt. Why is our government giving us candy canes that will only increase the debt our children must pay? And this is only one of several pieces of garbage that were included in that bill.

Another big candy cane in the bill was that it made the Bush-era tax cuts permanent for more than 99 percent of the population. Those were the tax cuts that were passed at the same time we launched two new wars, one of which is still going. Those were the tax cuts that created much of the fiscal cliff. Otherwise it would have been just a mud slide.

My message to my President and Senators and Representative is this: Thanks for the candy, but wake up and get a backbone. To President Obama: The tea party is winning and you are becoming King George. The colonies are kicking your butt. To my Congressmen and Congresswoman: Stop trying to be Santa Claus and do your real job.