Off Topic ---Where Some Of Your Tax Dollars Go

[Kip Powick]

Get a load of this …..open the link below and place your cursor over the picture of each Senator. This will blow your mind when you see the money getting urninated away by a bunch of Senators.

Some old people and some family's are living on below poverty level yet we see this money being used for people who basically do nothing.

Click on the individual senators name for more information,

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/02/15/senate_finance_data.html

[blues deville]

From my quick review these two are first and second in travel expenses. How could they spend that much money to do whatever it is they do? Seems like being a ex-TV reporter is a direct entry into this line of work? Mike Duffy has quite an expense account too. PEI is my home province and i have family that live near his home on the island. They say he is never there......and trust me, Islanders some how know anyone who comes and goes. Interestingly enough, some senators have spent nothing.

[J.O.]

How is it that a few have billed nothing while others are billing close to a quarter of a million dollars?

[Fido]

How is it that a few have billed nothing while others are billing close to a quarter of a million dollars?

The ones with zeros were just appointed. Give them time.

[AME]

I wonder if the travel dollars are evenly distributed between all Canadian carriers? or is this a back door subsidy for a single one

(tongue firmly in cheek)

[deicer]

Interesting to see the most of the biggest hogs at the trough are Conservatives

[AME]

The one thing they have in common is that they are all politicians with absolutely no accountability to anyone. Time for an elected senate?

Interesting to see the most of the biggest hogs at the trough are Conservatives

[J.O.]

The actions of the PM's Chief of Staff are very strange in this case. If he acted on his own, then he's a fool. If he was doing another's bidding (I am not suggesting that he was), then there was more than one fool involved.

[John S.]

Thanks Kip. Now I want to find a mean dog to kick.

Seriously, looking at the travel expenses for some who live pretty close to YOW I'm guess that they commute by personal luxury train car or, if that is booked, than by personal luxury motor coach.

[blues deville]

The "Duff" sure looks uncomfortable these days as a politician on the other side of a microphone.

Here are some interesting clips from his pre-senator days.

Is Mike fully bilingual? Apparently other politicians should be.....

And another. In 2008, a panel of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that Duffy had violated broadcasting codes and ethics during the 2008 federal election. The panel concluded that Duffy's decision to air "false starts" of an interview with then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion "was not fair, balanced, or even handed" and that during the same broadcast, Duffy "significantly misrepresented the view of one of the three members of his Panel...Liberal MP Geoff Regan

And one more of "come from away" (an PEI expression for non-islanders) Senator Mike.

[J.O.]

When our PM was leader of the opposition, he promised that public officials who stole from the public would be punished to the fullest extent of the law. It's time he put his money where his mouth is.

[Kip Powick]

OTTAWA—The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff has resigned in light of the controversy around his handling of expense payments involving Senator Mike Duffy.

In a statement issued Sunday morning, Nigel Wright says Stephen Harper has accepted his resignation.

The Prime Minister's Office said earlier this week that Wright personally paid off $90,000 in inappropriately claimed housing expenses for Duffy, who later stepped down from Conservative caucus.

Wright says his actions were intended “solely to secure the repayment of funds,” which he considered to be in the public interest.

He says he did not tell Harper how Duffy's expenses were repaid, either before or after the fact.

Wright says he regrets the impact the matter has had on the government, the Tory caucus and all his colleagues.

In a separate statement Harper said he accepted Wright's resignation with “great regret.”

[W5]

Received this in the mail today:

The Ode to Fluffy

Fluffy Duffy, sat in the House

Fluffy Duffy, was a real louse.

Trying to figure, “Where is his home?”

On taxpayers’ money, he continued to roam.

Wheeling and dealing, like Wallin and Mack

But all of a sudden, he seemed to lose track.

Of how much he took, and where it all went

Said he had no idea, how it got spent.

So back to the trough, to try to get more

Said to his wife, “We’ll never be poor”.

The rules are unclear, and colleagues so dumb

From PEI, I’ll tell them I’m from.

Two principal homes, he claimed to possess

Saying if he gets caught, he’ll never confess.

He feared he might have, a big heart attack

So the money he’ll need, and not give it back.

Then along came that scoundrel, Robert S. Fife

His nosing around, upset Fluffy’s life.

He blabbed to the world, Fluffy’s nothing but dirt

And God only knows, how much that hurt.

He prodded and poked, and gossip he bought

Fluffy had no idea, he’d ever get caught.

“He’s an honest man”, Harper he claimed

Fluffy’s response to them all, was “He had been defamed”.

When it seemed to them all, that Fluffy was done

The mess he was in, was not really fun.

They thought they had brought him, down to his knees

Till Harper sent Nigel, with his 90 gs.

So off he did run, right up to the bank

Still trying to figure, just who to thank.

Taxpayers, or Harper or Nigel his “friend”

But they all remained silent, right up to the end.

The money he took, has thus been put back

So the auditors now, will cease to attack.

Fluffy’s honesty, integrity, and all he’s stood for

Is now in his cabin, behind a locked door.

They’ll not snoop around, it is plain for to see

As the help he now has, from R-C-M-P.

His Senator friends, may give him a fine

But do as they wish, he’ll never resign.

With an exorbitant salary, which they’ll never freeze

He continues along, and cheats as he please.

Double dipping he’ll show you, can be so easy

When a Senator learns, how to be sleazy.

With taxpayers’ dollars, he’s now off the hook,

And he’ll make some more money, when he publishes a book.

And it’s onward and upward, he’ll never be blue

As he continues his game, and make fools out of you.

You can’t kiss him goodbye, while he’s still alive

Until of course, when he’s seventy-five.

But by then you will see, before he is off,

He’ll continue to feed, till he empties the trough.

It can’t get much better, as he’s still hale and hearty

He got where he is, as a “friend” of the party.

They covered his back, as the truth they can’t tell,

So, unless you’re a Tory, go directly to hell.

Politics as you know, is always so sleazy

And ripping you off, they’ve made all too easy

So really good people, won’t get in the game

As cheating and lying, will ruin their good name.

It has happened before, and never will change

Attracting those people, who really are strange.

They claim working for you, is not really easy,

As the way they succeed, just has to be sleazy.

[st27]

It's to the point where I don't care which party is in power,federal or provincial,just stop wasting money,on perks or policies that get abused!! And that would cut a pretty wide swath.

[J.O.]

It's pretty disgusting and sadly, it seems not to matter which colour of stripes the tiger has, they're all guilty of swilling in the same trough.

[blues deville]

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902) Historian and moralist.

[J.O.]

Thing is J.O., some of our society are infected by a disease called "entitlement", sadly this has crept into the general population and is not limited to politicians.

It's pretty difficult to expect our citizens to shake that sense of entitlement when our "leaders" are setting such a poor example.

[CanadaEH]

Not sure what happened there but I'll say it again:

Look at the generations growing up over the past 30 years: they are growing up in an environment where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Corruption and scandals plague politics and big business. What do the youth have to vote for? Votes are becoming meaningless and powerless.

[CanadaEH]

You say the poor are getting poorer but forgetting the middle class have much more than the those of 50 years ago.

I think the whole problem is ``entitlement`.

Of course you do. You're ignoring the point I was trying to make in that certain generations are growing up with the expectation that politics is corrupt and that voting is irrelevant. You call it entitlement I call it a broken system.

[Mitch Cronin]

the middle class have much more than the those of 50 years ago.

Posh! More what? Free time? Security? Cost of living adjusted earnings? ........?

I'd guess I'd be counted somewhere in the lower end of "middle class". 50 years ago my father owned a house and a cottage and had 5 kids. His wife stayed home. We have a smaller house, no cottage and two kids, and there's not a chance we could afford a single income.

[CanadaEH]

I've been trying to find some data to back up the claim, but the middle class of today has far less than the middle class of 30+ years ago. I was fortunate enough to listen to Doug The Retail Prophet speak last year and he had a bunch of data to support that exact claim. In a nutshell, he said that the middle class income had stayed the same, only with two key differences:

1. The income was based on a two-family income (vs. one income in the -70's).

2. There are more things to spend money on and they cost more money.

Your parents didn't have a cell phone for each child. Your parents didn't have desktop computers, laptops, tablets. Your parents might have had only 1 car. Internet didn't exist. The cost of everything from insurance to hydro to gas has skyrocketed. Sure, some of these are items you don't need - that's beside the point. You also didn't need a cabin on the lake 30+ years ago, but a lot of families did.

[chockalicious]

You say the poor are getting poorer but forgetting the middle class have much more than the those of 50 years ago.

I think the whole problem is ``entitlement`.

Wow, that is a claim that every econmic indicator says is the exact opposite. The middle class is getting smaller and actually has less than 50 years ago.

I find it funny that someone of the baby boom geneeration, a generation that basically benefitted from every economic advantage is railing about entitlement.

[J.O.]

... while those at the tail end of the baby boom and younger are paying the bills.

[zipped]

The lefty LIberal Chreiten also appointed a real crook. It's not all conservatives.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/06/16/former_liberal_senator_sentenced_to_six_months_in_jail_for_fraud.html

[chockalicious]

but I would bet if there was a TV there was only one, no cell phones for everyone, no expensive computers, no expensive vacations, one vehicle for the family, no designer clothes and of course that house didn`t have separate bedrooms for every child and probably no guest quarters either and the list goes on.

and then of course it all depends on what you call middle class and where you fit into it. Some folks who earn over 100,000.00 a year think they are ``middle class`.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2008/05/01/f-cp-census-income.html

Class differences

Median earnings among those in the middle remained status quo, registering a mere 0.1 per cent increase over 25 years.

Recent increases to basic personal tax exemption amounts are likely to benefit the middle class, Haan suggested, noting they may see higher earnings in the future.

As for the country's top earners, the number hitting $100,000-plus nearly doubled to 6.5 per cent in the last quarter century. Meanwhile, the number of full-time workers earning upwards of $150,000 rose one per cent, accounting for some 2.2 per cent of workers.

The majority of those earning hefty salaries were highly educated, with some 57 per cent of $100,000-plus earners and 65 per cent of $150,000-plus earners holding university degrees.

The 2006 census also shows a marked increase in the number of top earners in the previous five years alone.

In 2005, there were 601,510 full-time workers raking in $100K-plus salaries — a 26 per cent jump over 2000.

The jump was even more pronounced among the 206,160 full-time workers who earned $150,000-plus salaries. Their numbers were up nearly 30 per cent in 2005.

Still waiting for why you think the middle class is inceasing...

In terms of "yeah but, cel phones, computers, TV, sharing room, etc" the simple fact is that real purchasing power for the middle class has gone down. The middle class is shrinking. The other thing to keep in mind is that 50 years ago you could get a good job right out of high school that would support a family, now not so much. A university degree is barely the foot in the door now where once it at least made you eligble for an entry level professional position.

There was always the automatic assumption that a person's kids would do better than they did, now, not so much.