Dear Mr. President and the Members of Senate, Congress, etc.

To the respective members of my government...I don't mean to throw a temper-tantrum...but I have some questions...

So, we're facing, what seems to be a definite, government shut down that will cut or stop the pay for many Americans...but not for the people in charge of causing the shut down? Memebers of Congress make $174,000 a year (not including per diem and benefits)--that's $14,500 a month.  The President makes (as of 2001--10 years ago!) $400,000 per year (not including per diem and benefits) which equates to over $33,000 per month. The median (*NOTE MEDIAN NOT MEAN! This means that 50% of Americans make less than that per year!) household income for an American family in 2010 was about $46,000...So...wait...I'm confused. The President makes 71.7% of average Joe's annual income in ONE month, and Congress makes 31.5% of Joe's income in one month? It would take Joe almost 4 years (of saving 100% of his income) to make what a Congress-person makes in a year and it would take him almost 9 years to make 1 year of the Presidents' salary...but wait...there are 310 million Americans and only 1 President, only 435 members of Congress...so between the President and Congress 1 year costs: $76,090,000 (that is not including all the facets of government...) 

Now granted, the United States has one of the largest "millionaire" populations (a term, that is now antiquated, as having a mere 1 million in net worth hardly constitutes wealth anymore, and now those with over 10 million are considered to have "high-net-worth") at almost 17% of the population (simply over 1 million dollars of worth), but that leaves 83% who aren't! 14.3% of those (that equals 47.8 million people) live in absolute poverty. Poverty, this year, was defined as persons whose total income is less than or equal to $22,350.  And that's only absolute poverty not threshold poverty. So...if my maths correct...only about 69% of this country have just enough (not too much, not too little) But some of those do, infact live within threshold poverty limits. 

Again, I'm confused. Oprah has a net worth of $3 billion, Steve Jobs has a net worth of $7.8 billion, Bill Gates - $56 billion,...I kind of get that...they are private citizens... But Obama has a net worth of about $5 million, Darrell Issa (R-CA) has an estimated net worth around $451 million, Vern Buchanan (R-FL) - about $366 million, Jane Harmon (D-CA) - over $435 million, John Kerry (D-MA) - almost $295 million...in fact in 2009 the 10 wealthiest members of Congress had a combined net worth of almost $3 billion. So...wait...Joe citizen lives pay check to pay check, has debt in some way, and can't afford to go without his pay, where these Congress-persons very much can afford to go without a pay check...but because they won't do their jobs, your going to not pay the military for doing theirs? Most military members live under the poverty line, support families, and can't simply quit their jobs or stage a sit in...but you want to cut their pay...?

How about, you cut your own pay to help cover the deficit that you're arguing over? How about you not get paid until you've done your job? Because what you're doing to the average citizens is absolute BULLSHIT! You should be ashamed, I know we, the average Joes are of you.