Our politicians and government officials are all of the above, in my description of this article. I am sure what we now know is just the tip of the iceberg.
If you try to start up a business or build something in America, You run an expensive gauntlet of red tape, taxes, fees, regulations, lawyers, consultants, and is some cases outright bribes. If you want to get taxpayer money from the government for social programs, or feel good projects, it looks to me like none of the above applies. Play by the rules and you get all kinds of scrutiny at all levels of government. It is time for these criminals in our government and private fraudsters get some justice and punishment.
We are sick of playing by the rules and getting screwed from both ends. It is time for our public officials to be held accountable for their incompetence in handling our money.
We have a 29 trillion dollar debt, and I wonder if about half of that is fraud?
John Barleycorn 
Thanks, Bert. I would say that the federal debt is 100% fraud, mainly because none of us choose to be extorted of our hard-earned labor to pay for stuff that we have no control over the cost of or precisely how the extortion fees are distributed in the first place.
As for the politicians who supposedly “represent” us, I must ask, How can one person, whom we don’t really know, represent millions of people in an entire state, let alone a few thousand at the local level?
Atascadero has a population of about 30,000. Somehow, our little city ended up with an atrocious downtown parking and driving system. I don’t recall being offered to participate in the decision committee. Ope, nope. The “officials” just did what they wanted to do, causing horrific backed-up traffic in our town, which has one main thoroughfare to access most of the homes, shops, schools, and other services!
Meanwhile, the roads are abysmal for driving and bicycling.
And YES, I agree with you that the “authorities” and “officials” make it difficult and drawn out for everyday folks to live their dreams. Even as a musician, I can fully attest to that!
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Thank you. I am just now figuring out how to read and use the comments and likes.
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Loa Tsu: The government is like a dragon; the more you feed it, the bigger it gets. It will never get smaller.
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Bert, I experience some issues with the WordPress platform. For example, I just tried to “like” your comments here, but cannot. It’s a login issue, maybe because I use a VPN. I don’t know. The internet is increasingly sketchy!
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