This is a sad post today. It's about America. I grew up here, was always taught to be proud of this country, was told we have the best freedoms in the world, and so on. Like Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the USA", I always felt it an honor to live here. Well, I don't really want to anymore. We have descended too far, and I feel sorry for all of our veterans that have fought for this country. Even they are not treated as they should be by our government and healthcare system after the sacrifices they have made.
The reason for this post is an article I saw today. Here is a partial copy of it.
BELL, Calif. – Three administrators whose huge salaries sparked outrage in this small blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles have agreed to resign, the City Council said Friday.
Council members emerged from an hours-long closed session at midnight Friday and announced that they'd accepted the resignations of Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams.
Rizzo was the highest paid at $787,637 a year — nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama — for overseeing one of the poorest towns in Los Angeles County.
Spaccia makes $376,288 a year and Adams earns $457,000, 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.
The three will not receive severance packages, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Rizzo will step down at the end of August and Spaccia will leave at the end of September. Adams will also leave at the end of August, after completing an evaluation of the police department, the Times said.
"I'm happy that they resigned but I'm disappointed at the pension that they're going to receive," said Ali Saleh, a member of the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse or BASTA.
Rizzo would be entitled to a state pension of more than $650,000 a year for life, according to calculations made by the Times. That would make Rizzo, 56, the highest-paid retiree in the state pension system.
Adams could get more than $411,000 a year.
Revelations about the pay in Bell has sparked anger in the city of fewer than 40,000 residents. Census figures from 2008 show 17 percent of the population lives in poverty.
This is just so wrong, everyone I know is barely able to get by, yet our politicians, professional athletes, and others I am not able to think of right now are getting exorbitant salaries that they just don't need! Especially in the above instance where so many people are living in poverty.
What is wrong with America? Why do we allow this? Why have we put people in office that allow this? WHY? WHY? WHY? Can't anybody see this for the problem it is? Can't anybody do anything about this?
The answer is no. That's the sad part. That is why I am ashamed to be an American. Maybe our enemies are right to hate us, are we really giving them any reason to like us when we treat our own citizens like the people in Bell, California?
Think about it.
P.S. Just saw where Hillary Clinton is getting involved with China and their outlying island dispute. I think I'm just going to sit here and watch our country decay even further. Next she'll be offering them financial aid. Why not, we don't have any Americans that need money or help, right?
I believe a majority of people in the good ole U.S.A. are like us - they don't make tons of money and yet they're relatively generous with what they do get when they can be. Even most that are wealthy and got that wealth from hard work, innovative thinking/creativeness are level headed and generous.
ReplyDeleteLike you I get riled when the news reveals to us such stories of greed but I have to remind myself that's the majority of news items and not the majority of my fellow American's. Go ahead, call me an optimist now.