There is a lot of talk about the debt ceiling in the news of late. The democrats want to raise it and the republicans say we can't go further into debt. My question is this. How is your debt ceiling doing? I mean, your own personal debt ceiling. The one that dictates your standard of living.
There are certain things that we simply cannot go with out, but how many of us have put ourselves in compromising financial situations, simply because we were riding the tide of flush several years ago. We certainly aren't flush any more, unless of course you count the sound being made in the background as our futures swirl around the bottom of the bowl.
It's been almost three years now and what have we learned since the bubble of our dream world burst? 2008 was when it finally dawned on a lot of people, that we had been being lied to by those in Washington. (on both sides of the isle). When Lehman Brothers and Fanny and Freddie turned up dead on our door step, most Americans never saw it coming.
Since then, our 'portfolios' have taken a significant hit, along with our retirement dreams and our futures period. Meanwhile, the government has assured us that they are on top of it and since Obama rode the wave of economic discontent into the white house, we have constantly been assured that happy days were on the way again. But they haven't arrived and they are no where on the horizon when you gaze into the future.
The jobless rate has remained constant and the efforts put forth by the Obama administration have been little more than band aids to salve the realities of a dismal economy and continued job losses. From the TARP funds to the community reinvestment act, to the bailouts of Wall Street and the banks, nothing has worked as promised. America remains in the doldrums of economic malaise and there is no reprieve in sight. And once the temporary jobs created by the reinvestment act end on completion of their short term projects, the unemployment rate will return right back to where it was. 10% or higher.
So in essence, nothing has changed and little has improved. The Obama, Pelosi, Reid plan of spending our way out of recession simply isn't working and why anyone ever believed it would is beyond me. When the socialists of Europe told us we were on the wrong path and that spending our way out of global recession was wrong? Someone should have listened, but they didn't. And here we are three years into this debacle and our president's only continuing solution is to raise the debt ceiling, print more money and spend baby spend. Spend like there is no tomorrow and eventually everyone will be rich? Is that the plan Barry?
Personally, my debt ceiling is getting close to being more than worrisome. Gasoline at $4 a gallon and climbing. Bread almost $3 a loaf and milk once again approaching $3 a gallon. The cost of everything is going up and yet our base line incomes are not. Yet those in Washington and locally, seem to have no trouble at all increasing fees and taxes.
There comes a time when we have to look at the bottom line. Belt tightening is in order, we have no other choice and simply raising taxes so that we can maintain our present levels of spending isn't the answer. We as individuals have to take care of our own essentials. A roof over our head, food for our family, utilities and fuel to sustain us and our employment and after that everything else becomes a secondary consideration.
When I look at my budget? I don't have any problem at all seeing my debt ceiling. And the difference between my debt ceiling and Washington's? I can't simply increase my spending or my budget or make ends meet by buying that which I cannot afford. I can't print more money either.
So what part of this do these so called elected officials in Washington not get? It's pretty simple folks. We as a nation must reduce our spending. Which means that not just some, but a lot of these so called programs and entitlements must be drastically reduced and eliminated. We simply cannot afford the socialist model any longer.
When we as individuals over extend our debt? They come and take our homes and our cars and our possessions. It's called repossession and foreclosure. How much longer as a nation, before our creditors come for their money and foreclose on the entire country?
As the president and his party and the opposing republicans grapple with these realities in the coming weeks, try and stay focused on what is actually being accomplished. And you might be surprised to learn that the end result to this point has been 'zilch.'
The republicans rode a wave of discontent into the house last fall and seized control of the house of representatives, but what did they learn? Not a damn thing if you are watching and keeping score of their record so far. The people told them what to do and they went back to Washington and immediately concocted new schemes to produce more smoke and mirrors.
The republicans promised at least a 100 billion reduction in the budget just as soon as they held majority once again in the house. In the end, we got 60 billion in promises from them in February and when the finalized version finally made it out last week, we realized a net gain of 38 billion in published cuts. Only to learn later that the 38 billion being discussed as supposed cuts, was little more than accounting tricks and slight of hand for the benefit of the dumb masses and media who will swallow almost any turd from Washington, just as long as it is wrapped in bacon and charged to someone else' tab.
And to add insult to injury? While we were supposedly being spared the weight of this supposedly incised 38 billion in budget cuts? Washington increased their spending for the week alone by 54 billion. For a net loss of 16 billion before the ink had even dried on the fallacy they had penned as some sort of reported accomplishment of budget reduction.
So as the days and weeks tick by and as your budgetary bottom line shrinks further and your debt ceiling presses down harder and harder on you, take note that your representatives are continuing to work diligently to drive the ship of state onto the rocks. And if they succeed at the present rate of speed? We as a nation probably won't even feel a thing on impact. We are traveling so fast toward economic oblivion, that we will be knocked completely unconscious and will awake dumbfounded as to what has finally happened. But once the wretched heap of humanity that used to be America finally washes up on that distant shore of bankruptcy, hopefully our new masters will be benevolent.
The world will remember how generous we once were with them and how we always looked out after their best interests. Right?
Sure they will.......
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