Points To Ponder

Yesterday we continued working on the washing/waxing of the rig, the little Scrappy Quilt Of Many Colors, and crocheting Alex’s blankie.  And then, for relaxation, we did some reading and watched a couple of episodes of West Wing.  Being that it is another slow news day here at the Plantation; here’s another editorial entry for your consideration.

We all know that our Congressional Representatives are irresponsible, but just how irresponsible are they?  Here is a little “economics” lesson that we all should consider as we bet on our “dark horses” during this 2012 election process.  Has anyone heard any Presidential Candidate or any Senatorial Candidate or any Congressional Candidate honestly address the National Debt issue?  Not!!! 

Traveling through Washington, D.C. these days is like traveling across the deserts of Africa and seeing Ostriches with their heads buried in the sand.  But while our representatives have their heads in the sand, it might be a good time to kick them right square in the backsides.  Here are some Points to Ponder before placing an “X” on your ballot this coming November:

Federal Budget 101

The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so here is a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200 
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500 
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last year Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?  It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).  You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress. 

The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money.  They are sent there to “bring home the bacon” to their own home state.  To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders.  It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money.  Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going into rehab.

By: DAVID THOMAS
Chief Executive Officer
Equitas Capital Advisors LLC

I don’t know if I fully agree with the last two paragraphs.  There are trillions of dollars being wasted every year by the Washington bureaucracy and our representatives on foolish endeavors and ineffective/useless departments (Department of Energy and Department of Education to name two).  And, in order to realign their thinking, we need to, as my dad used to say, “give them a swift kick in the britches”.  But, there does remain some truth to those paragraphs so, “we the people” do need to consider going into rehab and kicking our addiction, tightening our belts, and insisting that our Representatives eliminate the National debt and balance the budget.  Our children’s and, especially, our grand children’s future is in jeopardy.

Think about It, are we so selfish that we’ll go ahead and spend money today on ourselves and leave the bills for our grand children to pay off?  Or, to make it more personal, will I spend money, that I don’t have, on myself for my happiness and let Briana, Catia, Lola, Kalina, Rocco, and Radek pay off my bills?  Somehow it’s supposed to be the other way around; we are supposed to be financing their futures.  We MUST make eliminating the National Debt and Balancing the Federal Budget a top priority this election year. 

In My Humble Opinion and May God Bless  - - - - - - - - -