I Owe, I Owe

Since our great and wonderful government just pushed our indebtedness past eighteen trillion dollars, that's eighteen with more zeros than you can count, I think a discussion about debt is in order. That is three times the total federal, state, and local tax income for 2015. It is also a perfect example of government negligence.

Let's start the discussion by talking about personal debt. Let's assume a thirty year old professional with a wife and a family and a recently purchased home. The transmission goes on his car. One of his kids gets sick. The roof starts leaking. His fuel company just delivers five hundred gallons of oil. Suddenly his expenses far outstrip his income. What does he do? Like ninety percent of American families today, he pulls out the plastic.

Now, these are all necessary expenses and cannot be postponed. Going into debt is justified. Also going on a Caribbean vacation and eating at fine restaurants also on the card, at this time, would not be justifiable. It would be adding insult to injury.

Being a level headed thirty year old professional, our hero will get rid of this debt in two ways. I am making my example both smart and motivated because it suits the point that I am trying to make. First of all he will squeeze the family budget as tightly as he can and make regular payments as large as is possible. If he gets a Christmas bonus, it will go toward the debt. If he gets a promotion and raise, it will go toward the debt. In other words, because he is young and his career is on an uptick, he can outgrow the debt. But bear in mind, his debt is not near his annual salary, never mind three time that number.

Now let us discuss the National Debt. Eighteen trillion! Three times income! That is borderline bankruptcy. And seventy percent of that debt has been accrued in the last six years. How does a country pay off that debt? With the path this country is on, it doesn't. It can't. Those politicians that are ruining our country, pay only the interest and keep borrowing more capital. They are addicted to spending and strangling the economy. We are well down the road to financial ruin. Anyone that tells you different, and there are those that will, is lying. Plain and simple.

So, is the country financially doomed? Not if we change our ways. No more bailouts. Let the free market rule. No more financing green energy. It is money down a rat hole. Let the free market rule. Be energy independent and sell the excess. Stop passing out money to countries that are not one hundred percent supportive. To survive we must go back to conservative monetary principles.

Provide a stable business atmosphere with lower corporate taxes and fewer overweening regulations so business can start to grow again and hire people into good jobs. Stop playing political games with our domestic economy. Bring jobs back to this country. It is Americans that built the Chinese economy to surpass ours. Then when our economy grows we can retire debt with that growth. Our politicians have been digging a pit instead of building a foundation. It is time for a major change in direction.