Random thoughts, or what most people think I have.

John McCain called what was happening in the Middle East a virus and the most dangerous situation, there, that we have faced in modern times. So, let me see the idea that the people in other countries, such as Yemen and Egypt, that are fighting for their freedom, are dangerous and freedom is a virus. Somehow I picture McCain in a remake of, "Grumpy Old Men." How far he has fallen. Michelle Bauchman and Sarah Palin are both planing a run for the presidency. That truly is a scary thought and can set women, who have fought for equality, back decades. There are many more capable women out there, in both parties. The Republicans went into the election saying they would cut 100 billion dollars from the budget. Now they are talking about maybe 30 billion dollars. They have wasted time trying to repel health care reform, because of a promise, but are doing next to nothing about the promised deficit cuts. We have to increase the retirement age for social security. I agree with this but I want to see the wealthiest 10% of the population have to share in the suffering the middle class has to deal with. Speaking of suffering I feel really bad that Exxon only had a 9 billion dollar 4th quarter profit. I hope they increase the price of gasoline before their CEO has to sell one of their mansions. There is nothing sadder then a multi-millionaire having to ride in the back of a Lincoln, instead of a Bentley. In response to Danny, if you read the wonderful book, "Too Big To Fail, " by Andrew Ross Sorkin, you will see that the government did not decide which corporations to save it was people like Ken Lewis of Bank of America and Jamie Dimon of Chase that would not support proposals by the government to bail out, with private money, some of the other firms on Wall Street. These are the same CEO's that took huge bail out money, even though they said," They did not need the money, but their competition received it so they had to take it." I have the book and you are welcome to borrow it. I see some of the Republicans are admonishing the president for not supporting one of our oldest allies in Hosni Mubarak. Yeah, we need to continue to prop up oppressive governments to help the average person in Egypt, establish freedom and democracy. Speaking of Exxon, did you realize that the subsidies that the oil companies receive,  from the American taxpayer is over 100 years old. This was meant to help a developing industry be able to develop new and better ways to extract oil from below the earths surface. This is one the many reasons that I feel the corporations in this country get the most entitlement money. The response from our wonderful politicians. We need to slash the "entitlements" to the average person. I have a question about social security. Why do they call it an entitlement? I guess because I have paid into the system for over 40 years and I am entitled to receive the money that I was promised. How is this different then a 401K. One last question for today. Why has no one on Wall Street had to turn in their pinstripes for prison stripes? They have robbed every American taxpayer, every pension fund, the Federal government, every state government and every property owner. Wait I think that covers everyone. If I left someone out let me know. I happen to believe that some jail time for the corporate lawbreakers is warranted.