Take a look at the Federal Election Commission‘s web site.
That’s 124 million dollars from the state of California. Add all the states together and more than ONE BILLION DOLLARS has been donated and spent on the 2008 Presidential Election. The job pays $400,000 per year plus a few fringe benefits (a spacious home, a few bullet-proof cars and a couple of 747 jets).
Those fringe benefits might add up to several times the salary, but we are still talking about a lopsided cost for a job. The cost-benefit ratio is something like 500 to 1. And spending this money only gives you four years of the salary. If you want the job a second time, you have to spend just as much during the re-election campaign.
You won’t hear a story about this on the news. Where do you think 99% of this money is spent? The media isn’t about to bite the hand that gives them the handout.
Is there any question as to why the average person doesn’t trust the government?
Here is something else I don’t understand. The president sends a three page document to Congress. Those three pages are incorporated into a 110 page law which fails to pass the House. The Senate then takes that document, adds 341 pages making the total a behemoth 451 pages. This is passed by both houses and sent back to the President where he signs it into law. Who gets credit for this law? The President’s contribution now weighs in at less than 1% of the final document.
If your work is 1% of a group project in one of my classes, you aren’t getting many points from the final grade.