Double Rainbows over Pittsburgh

My dear Aunt Eleanor passed away last week. I wanted to share this eloquent and incredibly touching eulogy that one of her grandchildren, Rebecca, wrote and presented to us all at the funeral service.

As requested, here is a copy of Becca's eulogy to my mom:

Hello, I wanted to first thank you all for coming and for all your prayers that you have said for Ammy during these past few months. These past few days to say the least, have not been easy for me or any of the family but one thing was not surprising was how many people came to show their love at the funeral home. As someone who has known Ammy my whole life, as I’m sure many of you have, I know what an influence she has been for me. So when I have people come up to me and say “I’ve known your grandma for 50 years…”(twice as long as I’ve been alive) it makes me think “wow how lucky this person must be to have known her for so long and what an impact she must have had on their life.”

I know my grandma had a lot of people she really loved and who really loved her in return. Growing up I looked forward every Christmas to be allowed to tape Christmas cards to the wall of my living room. As they arrived each day and I would go out and be so excited about how many there were…until I got to Ammy’s house and saw how many she had! These past few months especially when we would go visit Ammy we always made sure to say “I Love You” and wait for her to say it back before we left… even though just hearing her say it one more time would never be enough…I think she got the message though because during this last stay in the hospital she finally at one point said “I LOVE YOU ALL!” as if that would stop us. As you leave the service today there will be a basket with some of the stars that Ammy made and we would like you, the people who mean the most to her, to please take one home with you so that you can always be reminded of the love that she had for each and every one of you.

One thing that will always remind me of Ammy are her precious moments. I have to admit that I have been in Ammy’s house a million times and seen her precious moments that she has in her china cabinets a million times but it wasn’t until recently that I really started to think about them and why they are so important to her. I guess I should have just looked at what they are called.

Precious Moments….the moments we have with the ones we love are never enough. They are precious and should not be taken advantage of. You should never put something off until tomorrow because you never know if there will be a tomorrow. Enjoy every precious moment you get to spend with the ones you love, whether it’s a child being born, grandchild or even a great grandchild in Ammy’s case, a birthday, a graduation, a wedding or even just those simple moments when you’re sitting in your grandmother’s kitchen helping her make a million cookies or decorating two trees for Christmas with her special beaded ornaments that sparkled or had pictures on them and her homemade German paper stars. We are all so thankful that Ammy was able to be a part of these precious moments in our lives, especially Eva who was with her the smallest amount of time, but held such a big place in her heart. Ammy always found a way to make all the important events in our lives special and for that we will forever be thankful. And by the way, once this is all over, the race to the cookies in the basement is on!

I would like to share some of the things that remind us some of those precious moments that Amy, Lee and I had with Ammy. Some things that will always remind us of Ammy are half eaten bananas, cherry 7-up, geometric shape building pieces, magnetic bingo chips, clip on earrings, the Hallmark three angels and post it notes. One thing that Ammy was well known for was writing you a post it note when you did something that she did not approve of…We would come home from school and find post it notes all over our rooms telling us to clean them up and put this away and “why is there BBQ sauce in your bedroom?!?!” and if there wasn’t post-its available then a paper plate would always suffice. One thing we all know is that if heaven doesn’t have it together up there, God will be finding a lot of post-it notes.

Ammy always meant what she said and no one was going to change her mind. One time she told Amy one too many times to clean her room and if she didn’t clean it she would throw all her stuff away! Needless to say, Amy didn’t clean her room and came home to three garbage bags full of everything in her room! We knew not to mess with Ammy after that.

One inside joke that Ammy and Lee will always share is Lee going up to Ammy and tickling her elbow. Lee learned the hard way what happens when you mess with Ammy. One Christmas Lee got a present from Ammy wrapped of course in her beautiful wrapping paper and when he opened it he found another box, and then another box, and another…after several boxes later he found a note that said “why are you looking for your present here?” It became a yearly challenge for the two of them ever since.

Every Christmas I will always remember Ammy sitting next to me in church in her black coat (which for some reason she never took off) and after the service being told to run up front (since we sit in the back) and find the best poinsettia for her. Even after it got too hard for her to go to church these past few Christmas’s we always made sure to get her one and bring it home and surprise her. One Christmas Eve tradition that will always remind us of Ammy is eating wafers with honey and leaving a piece for the angels. I guess we know which angel we will be leaving it for this year.

One thing that my husband always says to me is “you are just like your mother” and now as I’m getting older I’m learning that that is probably true and probably not a bad thing, I know that my mom learned from the best and that Ammy’s love and unwavering support and wise words of advice (whether we wanted to hear it or not) made me a lot of who I am today and gave me the confidence to go out and reach my dreams knowing I always had someone there in my corner. You only get a handful of people in your life who you know you can count on and I was lucky enough to have Ammy be one of those people.

My sister said that Ammy is the strongest person she will ever know. I couldn’t agree more. She has always been a strong person, she had strong opinions but loved us even stronger. She kept a positive attitude and never gave up even after all she went through with cancer twice. She is always someone I will always look up to because I understand what it feels like to have found your high school sweetheart and one true love and eventually marrying them and starting a family.

True strength to me is having that person taken from you too soon and to have to live the next 22 years waiting to see him again. There is no doubt that we are going to miss Ammy more than we will ever know. There is also no doubt in my mind that Ammy will be looking down on us and believe me, she will find a way to let us know if we are doing something she doesn’t approve of…but I know someone who has missed her for a long time now who wants a precious moment of his own. So Pappy, give Ammy a kiss from all of us! We love you!

I'm a Conservative what?

I don't know what to call myself anymore. Saying that I'm disgusted with all political parties is no big surprise in today's political climate. Dems are so far left that I can't feel comfortable there. I'm pro-life (opposed to abortion, capital punishment and most of our wars) and pro-traditional marriage.

I believe in registration of all aliens entering our borders, but in immediate deportation or jailing of criminals only. Give current resident aliens ID numbers as foreign workers but no Social Security benefits until they become citizens. They would use these ID numbers for employment and taxation purposes by federal, state, and local govenments as well as setting up private retirement accounts. Citizens are entitled to the benefits of citizenship, but non-citizens are not.

Building a fence along our entire Southern border is an incredible waste of money. What about using returning service members as border guards, especially those areas that have drug traffickers crossing so easily? We need to protect all our borders from harmful invaders.

I insist on English being our primary language for all legal transactions, including schools and government. In other words, I don't want to feel like a foreigner in my own country.

The Seduction of a Flat Tax

GOP pundits and politicians have been throwing around the concept of a flat tax for quite a few years. They've suggested a one size fits all tax rate ranging from ten to eighteen percent, but what impact would this really have on taxpayers, especially if all deductions, credits, and personal exemptions were eliminated.

Those who would benefit the most from a 15% flat tax would be those earning wages of more than $379,150 a year. Almost all the rest of us would experience a tax increase with lower income earners seeing the most significant increases.

Why, you may ask? The reason is that very few of us pay the full amount of our actual tax rate. For example, someone who falls within the 25% tax bracket may actually pay only 10% in taxes after applying all the legal exemptions, credits, and deductions. Even those filing EZ tax forms benefit from standard deduction.

I'm not opposed to a flat tax, but I am opposed to the same flat tax applied to everyone. Bring on a more simplified tax code, but one size will not fit all.

Tax confusion

Politicians of both parties continue to posture and play the class warfare game. These opposing positions will only guarantee that nothing changes.

We need to create a more favorable environment for businesses, reduce government waste, simplify the tax code, secure Social Security and Medicare for seniors, and raise more tax revenues to begin paying down our national debt.

Compromises are need:
1. Reduce highest tax rate to 25% and eliminate loopholes,
2. Eliminate income tax on the first $25,000 of wages and first $25,000 of capital gains,
3. Change tax code to a graduated tax for both wages and capital gains ranging from 10% to 25%,
4. Eliminate loopholes and gradually reduce itemized deductions and exemptions,
5. Increase employee payroll tax (FICA) for Security Security and Medicare by 1/2 percent each year for the next eight years,
(public employees in Ohio pay 9.5% off the top for retirement)
6. Create a national sales tax (excluding food, medical, and housing) until national debt is reduced.

Major flaw in new Back to work plan

Businesses hire new employees because they have more work than they can handle with current staff. Getting a tax credit for hiring unemployed workers makes no sense. Employees cost a business money, both in the short term and long term. Employee benefits, including employer Social Security match, training, and health care insurance, can add 25 to 45 percent more to the cost of hiring a new employee.

This is so obvious that it boggles my mind.

Reform Capital Gains Tax Rates

Not taxing the first $25,000 of capital gains annually would benefit new and small investors. Eliminate all tax loopholes and increase the maximum rate to 25% for those earning more than $500,000 in capital gains.

Currently super rich benefit from lower capital gains taxes, often paying lower rates in total income than middle class wage earners pay in income tax. Warren Buffet brags that he pays only around 17% in taxes each year, since his income is primarily from capital gains and is not salaried. We should take him up on his challenge to increase his taxes.

Tax Reform Compromise - Simplified

1. Eliminate taxes on first $25,000 of annual income and first $25,000 of capital gains,

2. Cut loopholes, exemptions, and deductions,

3. Reduce all tax rates with 25% being highest rate,

4. Add National Sales Tax on all products, except food, medical, and housing,

5. Raise Social Security Tax rate to 10% over the next 5-10 years and eliminate contribution ceiling cap.

Tax Increase or Tax Cuts?

I'm disturbed that our government and many others believe that paying only the interest on our national DEBT is sufficient and that we only need to keep raising our debt ceiling as we keep creating more spending programs. This past week we learned that our GDP now equals our national DEBT. This means that we need an explosion of economic growth along with a new look at spending and taxation.

If politicians would stop yammering at each other and really work on our national problems, they might start figuring out solutions. Since real solutions would probably cause them to be vilified in the media and every place else, they will probably end in deadlock.

The first thing to do is to take Social Security and Medicare off the table for the time being by increasing SS tax to 10% over the next five to ten years and remove the contribution ceiling. Use SS surpluses to offset Medicare increases temporarily until our national debt is on the mend. This doesn't mean that SS and Medicare are fixed. It just means that no one party can use them to bludgeon another. I can only dream.

The second big thing to do is to create a national sales tax, the entire proceeds of which will go towards paying off the DEBT. This VAT tax would not be added to food, medicines, or services rendered. There are people in our country who legally or illegally have large incomes, but pay little or no taxes. This sales tax would generate income from this group and also from visitors to our country.

The third step is to cut all existing government programs (remember SS and Medicare are not on the table) by 10%. I would like to say that the cut would be averaged, but no one wants their pet program cut, so cut them all by 10%.

Fourth step, everyone, even Press Secretary Jay Carney, realizes that small business not government creates jobs. So tax rates for businesses must be cut. This could be offset by eliminating loopholes and subsidies, but this needs to be done across the board and not favoring one industry or group over another.

Fifth step, I would like to see no income tax levied against the first $25,000 of income or capital gains. This would benefit lower income earners and seniors on fixed income.

Why all the drama?

Goldman Sachs reported that US monthly tax receipts are sufficient to cover interest on our debt, monthly Social Security checks, Medicare and essential defense costs. Jay Carney, WH press secretary, said, "We lose our borrowing authority and that would be a bad thing."

I beg to differ. Our debt is a bad thing and all this excessive borrowing without the means to pay it back is a bad thing. We need to put a freeze on new spending bills and begin to roll back spending on literally everything else.

Social Security can pay for itself by increasing FICA tax to 10% and eliminating the $106,800 collection ceiling. Unfortunately politicians want to use SS to scare old people, so I don't expect to see any substantial change.

America, the Beautiful – what a great idea that was

Elected officials care more about staying in office and maintaining the power structure of their political parties than taking the hard steps to save this country. We have a president and Congress that only want to keep the economy going through the next election. Then what?

I have no doubt, President Obama will be re-elected. He's going to have a billion dollars in his campaign chest to ensure that result and gloves will be coming off. The 2008 election was about Hope and Change, the 2012 election will be about destroying the opposition. Expect a blizzard of attacks against the Republican Party and vice versa. It is going to be ugly.

Will any of this “Sturm und Drang” bring about an “Age of Enlightenment” or a new American Revolution. Not a bit. Nothing will be done by our partisan government and all the horrible things being predicted by both parties will happen. We will eventually default, our debt will outdistance our ability to pay interest and no raising of the debt ceiling will help.

We're not asking the “right” questions and we certainly are not looking for the “right” solutions. Unemployment is a symptom of our economic problems and dumping tax dollars into select businesses isn't going to help anymore than “shovel ready” jobs did.

Work programs are not the answer, just as they were not the answer during the Great Depression. It took the massive government and private sector spending of WWII to truly stimulate the economy. Afterwards we had a world to rebuild and the Soviet Union as a common enemy to stir up our creative juices.

I believe we face another fifteen to twenty years of economic decline taxing and sucking the American Spirit dry, unless we look for solutions that will effectively turn our economy around. What do we really need?

Well, we need more revenue coming in and we need less debt. How do we do this? Are we really so stupid that we can't figure this out? No, we've just tied ourselves to ideologies that are unyielding to compromise and refuse to see anything positive in the opposition.

We need to see real income and revenue figures before deciding on raising or cutting taxes. Loopholes, subsidies, deductions, and exemptions also confuse the tax issue. Warren Buffet says he pays too little in taxes, but if all his loopholes, etc., went away that wouldn't be the case. He probably would end up wanting his taxes cut, along with the rest of us.

Everyone who itemizes deductions does so because it reduces their payment in taxes substantially no matter what their tax rate is. By eliminating all loopholes and deductions, the individual tax rate could be lowered without reducing the revenue generated by the tax.

For example, someone in the 35% tax bracket may actually pay only 17% in taxes after all legal deductions, exemptions, and loopholes are taken. It would be possible to generate more tax revenue from this individual if the tax rate were lowered to 25% and all loopholes abolished. In the case of Warren Buffet, this would generate million of additional taxes, and, what the heck, he says he would welcome it.

There are corporations and individuals that currently pay zero in taxes. I would advocate that we not levy an income tax against the first $25,000 in earnings or capital gains. That would protect lower wage earners and senior citizens. I would like to see a graduated flat tax levied on all other income levels starting at 10% up to 25%. This would necessitate allowing no loopholes, deductions, or exemptions of any kind, including property tax deductions, charitable contributions, personal exemptions, and the like. There would be absolutely no itemized or standard deductions.

Each political party cooks the financials to support their own economic theories. I'm not an economist or accountant, but I am a student of history. We've gotten ourselves into this mess by overspending and not balancing our budget. What happens to individuals will happen to governments eventually.

Congress has been trying to spend our way out of every problem in our path and impress all the neighbors that we have bottomless pockets. If we did, why did we borrow in the first place?

We need to stop borrowing, add no new spending programs, and cut every existing program including the military and social security by ten percent. (We could increase FICA tax to nine or ten percent, which is what I paid for my state retirement program, and eliminate the current ceiling cap of $106,800. This probably would offset the need to reduce SS by 10%.)

After this spending freeze and cuts are in place, we could then begin paying off our smallest debts first and continue paying interest on the rest. This would mean that no new money would be returning back to the States until a significant portion of the national debt is paid off in ten to twelve years.

Unfortunately, greed and self interest will probably reign supreme in Congress and the White House no matter who is in power. America, the Beautiful – what a great idea that was.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Great depression and Keynesian economics

Keynesian economics says that to improve the economy, government should increase spending AND/OR cut taxes. Taxes should not be increased during times of severe recession or depression. The massive spending effort of WWII is what brought about US economic recovery not Roosevelt's meager Public Works projects.

Times are very different today. Prior to the Great Depression the average income of workers was around $750 a year and all the wealth was in the hands of the top one percent of Americans. We can't even imagine a world such as this, but we should read and learn.

Wealth is distributed very differently than just a short century ago. There's a lot of cash being held by big business. Perhaps the "or cut taxes" approach of Keynesian economics needs to be explored before anymore big government spending.

Tax Changes I'd Like to See

Our retirement income fluctuates depending on our investments, but with all our itemized deductions and personal exemptions we paid about 10% in federal income tax this year. I'm not complaining, mind you, 10% is a reasonable rate considering all our other expenses. We have two monthly mortgage payments, a car payment, monthly health, home and life insurances, utility bills, and don't get me started on the increase cost of food and gas.

Professional tax preparers have caused us to pay so much in additional taxes and fines over the years that I decided to try it myself this year. It was ugly - It took me two full days to understand and complete all the various forms and worksheets. I've come to the conclusion that I would prefer eliminating all tax deductions, personal exemptions, and loopholes than go through that again.

Why not institute a graduated flat rate tax? These rates are suggestions and would need to be adjusted so that tax totals collected would not decrease, although I wouldn't be surprised to see more money coming in than less.

People earning less than $25,000 a year would pay zero federal income taxes, but would still pay FICA and Medicare as they already do. They would only need to fill out a postcard and send that in along with their W-2 form from their employer.

People earning $25,000 to $250,000 would pay 10% tax, devoid of any exemptions or deductions.

People earning $250,000 to $500,000 would pay a flat tax of 15%.

People earning $500,000 to $1,000,000 - 20% flat tax.

$1,000,000 plus wage earners would pay 25% flat tax.

Capital gains tax rates would be scaled the same as wages, with no exemptions, deductions or loopholes:

1. Those making $20,000 to $250,000 in capital gains would pay 10% in taxes,
2. $250,000 to $500,000 in capital gains would pay 15%,
3. $500,000 to $1,000,000 - 20%,
4. $1,000,000 and above - 25%.

Those earning less than $25,000 in capital gains would pay no tax. This would help provide younger and senior lower income earners with an opportunity to build investments and wealth for the future or to offset future medical expenses.

AARP Open to Future Social Security Cuts

AARP wakes up to reality, kinda. Their new stance is:

1. Cuts should be minimal and affect "future" recipients only,
2. Cuts should be offset by a tax increase, and
3. SS Trust Fund should not be raided to pay down the deficit.

The thing that gets me is that the SS Trust Fund has been raided by Dems and the GOP for every hair-brained spending program you can imagine, but it's hands off the surplus to help pay off our national debt. Sounds a bit cockeyed to me.

How about eliminating the FICA (payroll tax) ceiling and using the SS surplus to help pay off our debt until it is needed by new retirees in about twenty years and not touching the Fund for any spending programs? This won't affect any working stiff earning less than than $106,800 a year. Even the Medicare payroll tax has no wage limit. I wouldn't even mind if Congress waived this increase for themselves (as they do for everything else) if that's what's holding things up.

The Third Rail

We frequently hear the term "Third Rail" mentioned as a warning cry in political discussions on TV and in newspapers. What is this Third Rail in politics? Well, it's a metaphor for an idea that is so untouchable that it would be political suicide for any politician to consider changing or modifying in any way. Social Security and Medicare are definitely "Third Rail" topics.

Whichever political party seriously brings it up for modification will face a barrage of attacks that will overwhelm common decency and common sense. Politicians would rather bankrupt our county and carry this burden into future generations that they will not be around to see. They talk about ten year plans for keeping Social Security solvent as though some magical solution to solve all our problems will come about in some imaginary future.

My husband and I are retired and living on an income that is based on 40% Social Security and 60% pension and interest from annuities. I worked twenty-four years contributing into SS and another twenty-four years contributing into a state retirement plan. The amount I receive from SS is only $655 per month minus $96.50 for Medicare. My husband's SS is just under $20,000 a year minus his monthly charge of $96.50 for Medicare. We would find it difficult to live on SS alone and, due to a minimum amount of planning in our youth, we don't.

If politicians really wanted to "save" Social Security and Medicare they'd make the hard decisions - increase FICA contributions to ten percent over the next ten years, have people retire later, eliminate the $106,800 contribution cap. The truth is the Social Security Trust Fund doesn't exist as a pool of money sitting some place collecting interest. It is just an accounting tool to transfer money from current workers to people who are retired or on disability. The money collected from younger workers goes in one door and out the other to the retired or disabled. As long as there were more workers contributing more money than retirees needed, it seemed like a good idea - but there was a wrinkle in that plan.

Presidents since Ronald Reagan have also been borrowing some of the surplus of collected SS taxes and issuing big fat IOUs known as "special issue" bonds, supposedly with the intention of paying it back before it was needed. The government has been spending the surplus revenue from SS on anything from soup to nuts. It's not unlike borrowing from your kid's piggy bank and leaving a note.

Beginning in 2018 the federal government has to start paying back all the IOUs and in 2042, should nothing be done to prevent it, Social Security will go bust. Seniors and the disabled are not going to wake up the first day of 2042 to find themselves penniless, the pain is going to start much earlier. Should I live to be 100, I may see this all unwind. Very scary thought.

A Tax Story

I am very thankful to the rich who pay 85% of the taxes in this country. I personally don't believe that anyone should pay more than a total of 30% in local, state, and federal taxes combined. Giving more than a third of your income to government each year goes beyond good citizenship. It approaches usury.

So I was surprised when I heard this story - a resident living in a very pricey apartment complex in Washington DC with units costing 1.2 million dollars pays only 15% in federal taxes thanks to IRS loopholes, deductions, etc,, but the janitor working in that same building earning $35,000 annually pays a tax rate of 25% in federal taxes alone. The janitor also pays local taxes and FICA taxes on his entire income. The resident also pays local taxes on his adjusted gross income and FICA taxes on the first $106,800 of his income.

This inequity bothers me. I'm not looking to milk anyone dry, but a flat tax and an elimination of loopholes, deductions, and exemptions might actually bring in more revenue, give a break to the lower income people, and not overtax those earning higher incomes.

Simplistic Solution to Our Tax & SS Problems

This solution is in the "What if..." category.

I propose that we eliminate the current unfathomable tax code and...

1 - institute a flat 10% federal tax on all income over $20,000 with absolutely no other deductions or exemptions allowed, income under $20,000 would not be taxed.

2 - institute an additional 10% flat tax on income over $50,000 a year, no other deductions or exemptions, to pay the interest on our national debt and to begin paying down our national debt, income under $50,000 would not be taxed.

3 - increase FICA tax to 10% each for employee and matching employer contribution to cover Social Security and Medicare and eliminate the contribution ceiling of $106,000 plus. A ceiling for collecting SS upon retirement would need to be determined (means testing, so that truly needy receive support). The gradual increase of age eligibility for retirement would also need to be reevaluated.

The federal budget would need to be cut to match the revenue collected by tax #1 and tax #2. Would this hurt existing programs and current appropriations? It absolutely would, but Social Security and Medicare would be out of the equation entirely. Currently the interest paid on our national debt constitutes over 18% of our federal budget and will increase annually unless we start paying down the principle and borrow no more. Tax #2 would be used to pay the interest each year and to begin paying off what we owe to domestic and foreign lenders.

I realize this is simplistic, but some modification of this plan or something like it is necessary for our nation not to face economic collapse by mid-century.

Taxes and the National Debt

Does anyone really understand taxes or the national debt? I sure don't, but I can speculate, just as everyone else does. Most people are in favor of cutting government except for those special programs that benefit them or the groups they support. I guess this is healthy self interest, but basically we are living with a system that will eventually crash. Our country is not generating enough income to pay for our current expenses not to mention what we already owe to China, so our national debt continues to grow at the rate of billions a week.

At the rate we are going there is no way we are going to pay back China and they know it. Ronald Reagan helped to bring about the collapse of the former Soviet Union by getting them to ruin their economy in a unwinnable Arms race with the United States. The Chinese will accomplish the same result by getting the US to spend itself into debt. Even if the federal government took every dime from the wealthiest people and businesses in the country it would not be enough to pay off our debt. We are in serious, serious trouble.

I am very discouraged when I watch politicians of either party on TV congratulating themselves on being more civil as they march headlong into an inevitable economic collapse. Very soon they will enter into discussions on raising the ceiling for the budget. That means spending more money that the federal government doesn't have. That would be like giving a new credit card to someone who cannot pay anything on existing debts or even necessities and have them go out and buy new stuff on the new card with no ability to pay it back.

This is craziness! How long can it be ignored? What can we do?

First, the federal government needs to admit that spending is taking us down a path of destruction and create no new programs or expenditures. This is the really hard part - Do not raise the budget ceiling for the rest of this year! This would mean reducing current appropriations to match expected revenues. The sooner this is done, the less painful it will be.

more to come...