Inspired by Recent Events

Before I park myself on the sofa with my husband and some of my siblings to watch "Wolverine: X-Men Origins" (love those flicks!), I wanted to pass along my two solutions for solving the debt crisis.

The first was inspired by a conversation I had with my brother who is visiting from Washington D.C. He works at that "wretched hive of scum and villany" a.k.a. Capitol Hill. We were discussing how much Senators, Congressmen, and the various staff get paid. Quick detour...I believe in merit-based pay for teachers. Getting back on track...How about merit-based Congressional pay for the government overlords in D.C.? Give the big bucks to the good guys and a pittance to the bad guys. The process of determining merit to be decided at a later time...

My second solution. Understanding that this government has been operating without a budget for the last few years (not that the ones in the past have mattered--paging Dave Ramsey.), I think we need incentive to stay under any future budget. Here's my idea. When the budget is presented, each Senator and Representative study it. For every earmark each Congressional leader successfully eliminates, they get a, let's say, 4% cut of that amount. So, if Senator Rubio eliminates a 3 million-dollar earmark for the Emotional Rehabilitation of the Sea Turtle, he gets 4% of $3 million--tax free--straight into his pocket.

The remaining 96% goes into "The Pot" (Libertarians'll like that name.) After the budget has been slashed to pretty little pieces and there is nothing left to cut, The Pot is then divided by 250 million--or however many taxpayers there are on the IRS website that year. Each taxpayer will subsequently receive their portion of the remaining 96%--tax free also.

These ideas are merely suggestions, but if a little 'ol stay-at-home mom who's brain has become a tabernacle of mush can come up with Two plans, I believe that the legions of thinkers in Washington can come up with a few more too.