Thirty Seven: Senator Stevens, IL Senate

So another long-entrenched national political figure is caught using the system, flagrantly, for his personal benefit. The story makes national headlines - for about 10 minutes.

The Illinois legislature creates a system for giving itself pay raises which can only be stopped by both houses of the legislature passing a resolution to reject the pay raise. So, one house, the senate, decides to stay out of session until after the deadline for rejecting the pay raise. This issue receives virtually no press coverage at all.

Americans obviously either, a) like having corrupt and arrogant leaders, or b) this kind of behavior is so systemic in politics that it is the accepted and expected norm. In the case of Stevens, he had to be so blatant and arrogant and persistent that it was impossible not to call him on the carpet. And big deal. So an 84 year old guy who has fleeced the system for decades will have to retire.

It seems to me that any taxpayer who does not agressively seek to wrench and twist every piece of the tax code, and every government regulation so as to reduce the amount of revenue being sucked out of our incomes, is an idiot.