ANOTHER EDITION OF "Question EVERYTHING!"

This email was forwarded to me by someone with the absolute best of intentions.   Read it - you'll see that it sounds logical, common-sensical, with a big dose of "why haven't we done this yet?"  

The only problem - is isn't what it purports to be.

Read the email, and the truth about it, after the jump!

Here's the email:

----
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best
quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could  end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a

 law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of  GDP,
all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

The 26th amendment (granting the  right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only

3 months & 8 days  to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it.
That was in  1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.  Of  the
27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or  less to
become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a

minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of
those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of
America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be
passed around.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

1. No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman collects a salary while in

office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It
may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress
is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen
legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back
to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only

take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.
Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!  If you agree with the above, pass it

on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20. Please keep it going.
----

The email would lead you to believe this is all from Warren.  Nope. 

1.  Warren Buffett has nothing to do with this email

Buffett did say the initial two-sentence quote to CNBC.  But that's it.  The rest, including the fake Congressional Reform Act of 2011, is bogus.  Buffett had nothing to do with attaching his quote to this piece of comedy.

2.  Errors in the Congressional Reform Act of 2011 document

These are fully detailed on Snopes and FactCheck (links are at the end of this article).  In a nutshell:

Re:  No. 2 - Congress already participates in Social Security (since 1984)

Re:  No. 3 - Most Americans don't purchase their own retirement plans.  If they have one at all, it is through their employers. 
Re:  No. 4 - Under current law, Congress doesn't vote itself a raise.  Raises are automatic, based on a cost-of-living formula. 
Re:  No.  5 - Like no. 3, most Americans either get their health care through their employer or not at all.  Why shouldn't Congress members earn the same types of benefit options of most employed Americans? If they were doing their job, most of us would have no issue with this.
Re: No 6 - Other than the protections provided IN THE CONSTITUTION, Congress is required to abide by the same laws as everyone else. 

3.  Look who's talking!

Although Buffett's said a lot of pleasing things of late, particularly to the 99%'ers,  we can't forget that he and his billionaire ilk are largely responsible for creating the monster that is our current Congress.   And his simple instruction, "you just pass a law..." - not so simple!  Congress enact anything resembling accountability for their actions?  And the alternative constitutional convention option has never been done.  

There are lots of valid things to be angry about.  We don't need to make new ones up.  Just another reminder to question EVERYTHING - find the kernel of truth buried in the garbage, and only then decide whether it's worth caring about.

Here are the links to the sources of these clarifications:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/buffett.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/28thamendment.asp
http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/congressional-reform-act/