So, my first blog. As you can probably tell by the title, it is the recent events going on in the country that has finally inspired me to start a blog. Although I don't intend for this blog to be completely political, I need an outlet to express my views. So, without further ado:
As I write this blog, the debate over raising our Nation's debt ceiling rages on and talks with the President once again ended no closer to any solution, and like many Americans, I am both excited and scared by what's coming in the near future. What I'm excited about is that there seems to be an awakening going on in the country. What I'm scared about is....well, quite frankly, the most powerful man in the US government.
When talking about debt, let's take the example of an average American family. An average family with a house payment, a couple of car payments, a couple of credit cards, and the other normal household expenses has a decent amount of debt, but usually has more income than expenses. Then, circumstances may change, both intended and unintended. They may have gotten a bigger house because they have a couple of kids. They may have traded in the economy car for a minivan. The economy starts to go down, and gas prices go up, which causes groceries to go up. The President pushes through health care reform that causes their insurance premiums to go up. They transfer credit card balances to take advantage of balance transfer deals, and then they charge up the original cards. Pretty soon, they realize that the no longer have enough income to cover the expenses that they have.
For an average family that gets into that situation, there are a couple of options. One option is bankruptcy. However, most responsible families want honor their debts and protect their credit rating. So what do they do? What they don't do (or shouldn't) is go out and get another credit card, or trade in their car for a more expensive one. They send an extra $50 on their bills instead of going to the movies, they buy the 10 pound jug of Folgers at Sam's Club instead of stopping in at Starbucks everyday, and if possible, they refinance their house to lower the payment. In short, they cut spending and prioritize what needs to be paid.
Wouldn't it make sense to handle the National debt the same way? For the United States, bankruptcy is not an option, especially considering the fact that it is the US dollar that is the basis for the global economy. In order to pay what needs to be pay, we have to either raise revenue (taxes) or cut spending. As conservative as I am, I'm actually not completely opposed to trying to raise additional revenue, just as I would go out and get a 2nd job if my household income was not enough to cover the household expenses. However, my first priority, as I think the Nation's should be, would be to cut spending down to the bare bones. I don't understand how you can spend trillions of dollars to bail out financial institutions, corporations, the housing industry, and the economic stimulus plan, all of which did not have the desired effect on the economy, and then turn around and tell the American people that, although we're still in the midst of tough economic times, they need to pay more in taxes to not only cover all these expenses but continue to fund the over bloated Government that is fraught with wasteful spending as well as the ridiculous Obamacare plan, which not only may turn out to be unconstitutional, but the majority of Americans don't want anyway. I would gladly accept an increase in taxes, if I knew those taxes were going towards paying off our debt to say, China. What I don't want is for my tax dollars to go towards giving someone a $50,000 grant to pay down their mortgage on a house that they couldn't afford in the first place, but were able to get by funding through Fanny Mae or Freddie Mac.
I mentioned that there seems to be an awakening in the country. I think people are starting to realize that you can't continue to borrow in order to pay the debts that you already have. To me this is evident in the support that the Conservative members of Congress are getting as they fight against raising the debt ceiling. I just hope they continue to stand firm and use this as an opportunity to address the way Government spends our money.
More to come.
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