Congress lies without consequence

An alternative not open to us proles.  George Orwell's 1984 resonates more and more each day.  War is peace, love is hate and the 'truth' is a lie.  The only way to restore honesty, decency and effective governance is to break up the Federal Government's domestic role and hand it back to the states along with the taxing power.  Then 51 separate governments can compete on the basis of who delivers the best, most efficient governance.  And as with all competitive systems this one will be very bad for those that do not create value for consumers.

STEVE CARTER: Threat of Jail Would End U.S. Budget Gimmicks. “The Congress that passed Sarbanes-Oxley concluded that the only way to ensure transparency in corporate numbers was to require corporate officers to certify that their numbers were correct. The penalties for falsely certifying are substantial — fines of as much as $5 million, and up to 20 years in prison — on the theory that the fear of personal liability will reduce the incentive to exaggerate future revenue or conceal future liabilities. By contrast, congressional appropriators and federal agency heads, are under no similar constraints. True, the government does have its own accounting principles. But nobody faces liability if the numbers are off. Nobody has skin in the game.”