Fiscal Conservative doesn't apply for your average Republican

We've all seen how Republicans create a myth claiming they are "fiscal conservatives." You hear the same rhetoric, "We'll cut taxes and eliminate wasteful spending." Today, this rhetoric can be seen as a boldface lie. Take our good ole' Georgia Gov. Sonny "Daze" Perdue as an example. When he entered office during his first term, he inherited more than a $500 million budget surplus. Today, our state is facing a $1.6 billion budget deficit. Fiscal conservativism?

There was one published story I recall writing when working as a full-time journalist. This was back in 2005 when people were panicking about gas prices topping out over $2 per gallon. Can you imagine if prices dropped to that right now? I called some local, small independent distributors to determine how it affected their businesses. Their responses were extremely dour. "I've had to cut some of our employees' pay." Another said he couldn't afford to pay his employees health insurance. This was extremely depressing to hear over the phone. It turned from depressing to anger when I spoke with a gentleman who works for an institution in Washington, D.C. who solely monitors and analyzes the oil and petroleum markets. There was really one question I was dying to ask and knew the answer before he gave it to me.

"Who isn't keeping up their production levels to meet our domestic demands?"

There was a long pause and I knew he was hesitant to tell me. Finally, he said, "Saudi Arabia." Yes, if you've seen Michael Moore's blockbuster documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, he documents the Bush family's long standing ties with the Saudi royal family.

Gas prices are one piece of this economic puzzle. Another story I wrote provided more red flags about where our country was headed. This one never was printed, but it was intrinsically rewarding. The following excerpts were written back in Sept. 2006:

The Center for American Progress (CAP reported: “In 2005, the typical CEO received $11.6 million in total direct compensation -- salaries, bonuses, restricted stock grants, gains from stock option exercises and other long-term incentive payouts. In this same year, “the average CEO made 279 times the average pay of a production non-supervisory worker, the vast majority of America’s private sector’s work force. This is up from 185 times in 2003 and 229 times in 2004.”

It should come as no surprise the biggest bread winners are CEOs in the oil and gas industry after gas prices recently peaked over $3 per gallon on average nationwide. The report said these individuals earned an average of $30.5 million.

The Economic Policy Institute said, “Since 1997, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has deteriorated by 20%. After adjusting for inflation, the value of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.”

Do you think conditions have improved? Democrats worked to stop this mess, but their efforts have been thwarted by the divide in Congress. Also, Bush continues to use the veto pen any time legislation attempts to stop tax cuts for the wealthy and regulation of industries. Since 2007, legislation was passed for raising the minimum wage but not before another provision was added to provide more tax cuts to corporations. So, the purchasing power for the poor and middle class has continued to decline.

Working as a journalist, you earn poverty wages. Naturally, there are some exceptions if you end up working as an editor or for a major cable news outlet. Staff writers at Time earn what I earned. As much as I enjoyed the freshness and investigative work journalism requires, I'm glad I have more financial security where I'm at now. Those past experiences also instilled me to have a keen sense on who is telling the truth and who is full of shit.