Today’s economic woes are continuing to play major havoc on our nation. We all remain helpless as we watch our government throw money around like it was a child’s monopoly game.

While this certainly is a concern, we are more concerned that our government is taking advantage of this crisis to slip other issues past us. If the present bills and budget are passed, we can expect many, many unexpected and unanticipated issues to spew out.

Just one example is the issue about contributions. If you are in a certain tax bracket, your contributions to charities will not be tax deductible as they have been in the past. In fact only about 25% will be deductible and the rest will be taxable. AND, this is being done so that our government will be able to make these contributions to needy charities for you.

The government feels they are more capable of picking out where you need to contribute than you.  We feel there will be many other issues that our government will take charge of because they know better than we do.

One of the main issues we are having with this administration is that of earmarks and/or pork issues.

For the 17 months Barack Obama was running for president, he repeatedly said he would not sign bills into law that contained earmarks. Apparently Mr. Obama has put that campaign promise on hold as he is poised to sign a budget bill laden with as many as 8,600 earmarks, depending on who’s counting.

The House last week passed the measure that would keep the government running through Sept. 30, when the federal budget year ends. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified earmarks totaling $7.7 billion, but Democrats say the number is $3.8 billion. Regardless of the amount, Obama pledged no more earmarks.

Obama missed a great opportunity to signal to the American people that it was no longer business as usual in Washington, D.C., by telling Congress he would veto this bill and then following through if necessary.

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., rightfully called out Obama for failing on his promises.

“Listen, I mean, the president was elected by the people of this country to institute change in Washington and to finally demand a federal government that is accountable to the people,” he said. “The fact that there are 9,000 earmarks in this bill and the fact that the vetting process just doesn’t take place the way it should, we ought to stand up and draw the line right now and stop the waste.”

Proposals such as giving millions to the wine industry to study grapes; millions to study why hogs smell; millions to build a railroad to a cat house in Vegas; a million to study grasshoppers, and the list goes on.

While all of us are struggling to survive, struggling to pay our taxes and stay in our homes, our government is concerned about why hog manure smells.

Obama was elected on a campaign promise of change and hope. Now all we can do is hope for this change.