Government Spending Inertia

We have 3 choices as a nation, and if we don't choose, one will be chosen for us...

We can either collapse under the weight of the government like Greece, revolt and overthrow the government like Poland, or do something new and totally American and actually vote in people who are willing to resist the inertia that this runaway train has built up and work to shut down programs and stop spending borrowed money for programs we don't need.

Each of these choices will have some pain involved. Collapse will be the worst, with rioting and chaos. Revolt would have a period of transition as a new government is assembled, and likely include rioting and chaos, but perhaps on a lesser scale. The solution that our founders built in to our Constitution of voting out the current government and electing small government constitutionalists is something that history has never seen. Obviously the people suckling from the teat of the government will feel the most pain as the well dries up. Hopefully they will see the error of their ways and return to contributing to society rather than leeching off of it.

Today the debt of our government, of our nation reached an amount equal to our GDP. Every dollar made would be required to pay off our debt. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon [sic] to realize that this is not sustainable. We have to stop subsidizing programs that do not work, stop regulating and taxing businesses to death, and shut down military bases that we have spread across the globe.Also we will have to cut back on social programs that are bleeding us dry. When social security started, the life expectancy for men was 62 years. So if you made it to 65, you could collect some money. Now men are living to 80 and collect for 15 years. There's just not enough money there.

There is no other way to rebound from this debt without making drastic cuts in spending.
If we don't elect representatives that are willing to make the tough choices, then the decision will be made for us and we will be left to deal with the consequences...

Politics, the debt ceiling, and our nation going forward

People seem to oblivious to the fact that there is no possible way for the federal government to keep shelling out the money it has in the past, and continues to at this moment. The national debt is 14 and a half trillion dollars, or 14,500,000,000,000 dollars to make it hit home.

Don't believe it? Check this out http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The government is creating money out of thin air and borrowing money from China and other nations. This cannot continue. The Republicans and the Democrats and the President are now in a battle to raise the debt ceiling because we've reached the limit on our credit card. What do normal folks do when they reach their debt limit? I would stop spending, personally. Not the gov't. They just bump up the limit and keep chugging. How can this be? Where does it end? I say it ends now...

People get upset when you mention cutting Medicare or Social Security. Folks, I'm sorry to say that it HAS to happen. The government is spending and giving away more money than it takes in. The government doesn't produce anything, the only income it has comes from taxes. Taxes from you and me on our income, and the things we buy and the places we shop, and taxes on businesses as well. There is not enough money out there to pay for all the spending. Someone has to stop it. There's talk about calamity if the US "defaults" on its debt. I don't think anyone knows what will happen if the debt ceiling isn't raised. It reminds me of late 1999, when everyone thought the country would shut down on January 1st at midnight - Y2K, remember? It came and went without a hitch...

But even if something horrible happened, I say bring it on. I almost think we would be better off if we shut the doors on the federal government and sent them all home (or locked them in... HA). Let the states receive all the money that the federal gov't is currently raking in. They would be better able to allocate it for the citizens within that state. That's the way our nation’s founders thought this would work, and it did for a long time.

Ok so I went off on a tangent... back to Social Security. Back when that was started, it was supposed to be like individual savings accounts for each person contributing, that they could access when they reached retirement age, which is dictated by the government. Why did the government need to do that? I guess the gov't thought the people weren't smart enough to save money for themselves... But what happened was the gov't started using that money for other stuff, so instead of all this cash in the bucket, there's a bunch of IOU's in there. Medicare is in a similar boat, loosing money left and right. I've heard it will be insolvent within 10 years. Broke that is, in a hole, in the red, no money folks...

I recently witnessed a conversation at a local store where the person checking me out knew the person behind me inline. The cashier asked the lady behind me where she's been. The lady answered that she hurt her ankle and was working on getting on Social Security. The cashier answered "oh, me too. I've got breathing problems. I’m trying to get my Social Security too."

Seriously, this happened folks! There's a problem there. The shopper's ankle wasn't hurt so bad she couldn't shop. She wasn't rolling around in one of those electric carts, or even using a cane. The cashier obviously didn't have a problem working in a store checking folks, because she was doing it right then. That is insane!

I've also heard about people getting SS for carpal tunnel, ADHD, and numerous other non issues.

What has happened to society? There was a time when a person would be embarrassed to be on government assistance. Now it's like a goal in life. Do people not realize that it's a dead end? There's no promotion, no bonus, no retirement, no paid vacation. You become enslaved to the government, trapped even. America is a land of opportunity. I met a guy from Africa, Zimbabwe I think. He moved here, drove a cab in New York and put himself through school (living in the car) and got a job installed a particular software system. He told me if he could make it, anyone could. He made a good living at that point. Compare that to the cashier who had aspirations of getting on Social Security.

Not only do we need to adjust some attitudes, we need an audit. I don't know the numbers, but I'd bet half the people on Social Security now shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are lots of folks that need assistance, deserve assistance. But the people that can do for themselves, get off your butts and get a J.O.B!

That would make it easier on me and you. There would be more people contributing, and less people bleeding the system dry....

Ok, I have to stop now... I'm still pissed about the conversation I witnessed regarding getting on Social Security.