Our careless deficit spending attitude
It is hard to believe that an estimated $1.4 trillion deficit for Fiscal year 2010 along with trillions more in subsequent years is being proposed as if it should be even remotely acceptable. The popular position lately has been that we must take this action to save ourselves, and there are no other options being presented to consider. This is extremely deceptive because there is another option that our politicians do not want to consider, that option is absolutely refusing to spend more than our collected revenue. What a novel idea, and the most obvious if we were thinking responsibly. This plan would be very painful to endure as we worked our way through the current chaos, but it is the responsible choice to make for our future. We have been living above our means in this country for so long while the deficits have been piling up, and we have ignored the consequence of this reality because we never really consider repayment. It has been America’s endless credit card that allows us to continue the life of abundance while being blissfully irresponsible. It should disgust all of us to expect the world to continue financing our excess while hoping a future generation will have the fortitude and discipline to repay this debt that we currently lack.
We have been carelessly deficit spending for decades, why do we believe we have the right to continue in the name of economic relief as if we have never suffered through corrections, depressions, or rough times before. It is a reality that has been with us from the start and will continue to be with us as time progresses, there will be plenty more economic calamities in our future that will have to be resolved too. The distress from our current turmoil is already being harshly bestowed upon us, and we will work through this one as well. Why would we want to further destroy ourselves in the future with reckless deficit spending that will unlikely alleviate any of the suffering currently being experienced and will certainly create a future crisis. The Government absolutely will not solve any of these problems we face; in fact they will only add more pain into the process if history is any guide. It really comes down to a choice of either withstanding the current impact and having a more prosperous future awaiting, or wanting the assumed easier road by a “perceived” Government rescue by plundering our future. It is reasonable to believe that we Americans know the right course of action even if it is extremely unpleasant, we surely must realize that future generations should not be obligated to pay for our irresponsibility.
The toleration of this deficit spending also has the effect of giving our Government the ability to put off tough decisions that must be made in governing our nation. There is no reason for them to make tough decisions regarding the numerous issues and programs being debated within an actually observed budget. Deficit spending in effect totally removes the money constraint therefore politically divisive issues can be easily avoided by widespread funding. Being an arbiter of competing interests and executing decisions for the benefit of the nation overall is a central role of our Government, and being able to throw money at any request by way of deficit spending basically absolves them from this responsibility. It is absolutely immoral for us to continue running deficits while expecting future generations to cover them, nobody in their right mind should think this is acceptable, yet the aggressive escalation of these deficits is now being proposed. It would prove much more responsible and constructive to buckle down and constrain spending to the tax revenue collected while forcing our elected officials to start making decisions within this limitation. This would take some extreme effort on their part to accomplish because it would be an odd concept for them to understand. Sadly, the mindless spending of our country into oblivion may be the only thing our Government does proficiently, and this compulsion will eventually overcome us if we refuse to change course.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I think we should send a representative over to Europe to meet with other world leaders and convince them why they too need to “stimulate” (spend) in their already broke economies. While some of those leaders keep saying MORE government regulation is what is needed. Yeah that has already worked so well in many countries but we appear to be destined down the same path. WAKE UP PEOPLE before it is to late….
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 am
Wake up America!!! You are letting the government take over our country, now you are going to stand and let them put us in a financial mess that we or future generations will never be able to pay back. How blinded are we to think that this irresponsible
government will ever figure it out. As long as we stand by and do nothing it will never stop. All of us have to stand up and say that’s enough or suffer the consequences. Come on people let us do something now to put a stop to this deficit spending. AMERICA, please protect our country before it is to late….
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Farrell, it’s already over. People are just finally starting to see it. The great performance that is unfolding on the world stage right now as we speak (G20) is part of a more grand drama that started many, many years ago. This reminds me of that trilogy “The Matrix” were Keanu Reeves “wakes up” from his dream world into reality. People are finally starting to wake up! It’s a tragedy though, in the Greek sense, being that it is too late to stop.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:51 am
IGotCandyGetinTheVan, I think if people right now would get up and start a coup and get rid of this government(in other words throw them all out) we could start over with a smaller government and some fresh blood. Other countries have done it and it worked. We would just have to start all over again. We can not keep going the way we are or the government will take all our freedoms away. They are already starting. They are controlling the banks, trying to take our weapons away, and the President firing the CEO of GM. Now what is going to be next, and believe me it’s going to happen one thing at a time until we are totally under their control…COME ON AMERICA let’s take our country back. PLEASE let’s get our freedoms back!!!!!
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
You do that. Go get ‘em! The problem with your strategy is that people under 40 (pretty large block of voters in that group) are part of a generation of entitlement. They expect to be taken care of, but are unwilling to work for it. They whine and complain about being treating unfairly at work by their boss or whine to their bank that they can’t make the house payment now that the value is down 30% because they bought way more than they could afford. Sound familiar? Meanwhile, Obama and team are taking away your guns in the most insidious of ways, starting with Illinois. They are going to “require” you to have a $1 million+ life insurance policy to get a gun permit. You think all those rednecks are going to do that? Heck no. So there go the guns. Then they’ve got you. No guns, no resistance. Why fight you publicly with force when they can litigate you into submission? This country is FUBAR man. We are done. Time to call it quits and move to Costa Rica.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:05 am
I know what you are saying is true. But, it makes me sick to see my country go down the tubes. There was a time when people had pride and worked hard for what they have. Maybe, God willing people will wake up and smell the flowers. let’s pray it is not to late.
Costa Rica or New Zealand sounds good to me. I don’t want to live in a place that’s going in this direction. I really enjoyed the freedom that this country offered to the people in the past and I don’t think I could adjust to what’s coming…People will be very sorry for what’s ahead.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:24 am
The government is only gonna spend as much as the people allow them to (for the most part) whether we have the money or not. We elect our leaders and this has proven to be the best form of government to date. Even if your candidate didn’t win you still have avenues for getting your message across. The internet, senators, congressmen, etc. I don’t think its time to overthrow the government but certainly express your outrage at the mishandling of OUR MONEY. If we the people weren’t so all about ourselves until something goes wrong, maybe we wouldn’t be where we are now, we’ll never know. But since we are here, we should do something about it, even if its nothing more than paying attention to what’s going on and writing to someone (congressman, senator,white house) so they know we are watching them and not the other way around. JUST A THOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!