Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of
the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just
pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3%
of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-
election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds)
took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people
demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell
phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took
1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public
pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this message to a
minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of
those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States
of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should
be passed around.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while
in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the
Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American
people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void
effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with
Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s),
then go home and back to work.
Maybe it is time they are treated like each of us.

??? THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS

GG - California (California???) has a nifty little twist. If the legislature doesn't pass a budget by the deadline, the legislators' paychecks stop coming until they fix it.

Exactly so. That is so typical of the CA legislature. The voters there have a lot more sense than the legislators or the courts, but they keep electing the same damn fools anyway, so why should the legislators care what the voters think? And how smart could those voters be to keep electing the same damn fools? The land of fruits and nuts, indeed.