Spending Money

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I have bills.

Most Americans pay bills on a regular basis, and pay them on time. If we don't we get late fees, and sometimes the repo-man shows up and takes what doesn't belong to us. A lot of us tend to seriously focus on paying bills so we can keep all the things that we end up buying on credit, because if we don't there will be consequences to pay.

This lesson is a lesson forgotten or never learned by our leaders in Washington. Every fiscal year here of late the Federal Government has started with exactly $0.00 in the bank. From rampant spending in 2 "wars," to massive "bailouts", passed by two different administrations, our federal government spends money it simply doesn't have.

You and I receive late charges, repossessions, liens, garnishments and all types of penalties for not meeting our financial obligations, and at the same time our credit drops from "great" to "horrible." Pretty soon after all this occurs we find that banks and businesses do not want to business with us, because we have proven ourselves unreliable and incapable of tending our responsibilities.

However, the federal government does not experience this series of events. Due to the excessive printing of money by our "Federal Reserve," (which isn't federal at all) our currency has suffered tremendously since the Great Depression. For instance, that dollar in your pocket is only worth a whopping 3 cents when compared to what the dollar was worth around the 1930's and 1940's.

And since our federal government is continuing to spend at an outrageous rate, I would guess that our dollar will be worth even less in the coming years. Inflation will ensure that goods and services will be tougher to get.

If we return to the gold standard I believe we can have a fighting chance of fixing our economy. It would cause us to live within our means and to not overextend ourselves financially. I think it's time for our federal government to do the same. It needs to live within its means. It can't afford to bailout these corporations that "Are too big to fail."

There is the system we used to practice here in the United States. Businesses supplied goods and services to the population for a price that was determined by supply and demand. When those businesses made bad decisions or made bad errors in judgement, they failed, went bankrupt or reorganized at great cost, to meet the new consumer trends. If companies failed and went bankrupt, other companies quickly absorbed the vacuum left by that failed business. That system is called a free market economy. If your a socialist or communist you call it capitalism and says that it prays on the hard work of honest people. There is nothing from stopping anyone of us "normal folks" from becoming the next big thing in business. We all have that potential. Race doesn't matter, neither does sex or what area of the country you are from. If you have an idea, sell it. You want to run a company? Go to college and get that degree, start working for a company and work your way up or better yet start your own. Worried about getting the money to start up? Find a partner or series of partners. We all have the ability, but as Americans we don't have the desire anymore. We want "Big Brother's" help because we made bad decisions and only he can make it better (so he keeps telling us).

Our system works and it always has, if government interference is kept to a minimum. We have fallen into complacency and "self-entitlement" (I deserve this or that), and think that somebody, somewhere owes us something. My grandparents made themselves, they weren't extraordinarily rich, but they worked hard for all they had and owned a small business. We need to stop depending on "Big Brother" for all our needs. Right now, I am almost with out work, how am I going to feed myself and my family? I am going to get a newspaper come Monday morning and find a job. Will it be something I enjoy? Probably not. Will it pay what I normally make? Probably not? Will it cause me to have to evaluate what we spend money on? You bet it will. Will I have to give up some luxuries I enjoy? Most Likely. Will I survive? Darn, right I will. One way or another, and I am going to do it myself.

We need to all live within our means, so does our government. We all have the spark to do whatever we desire. Our lives are to live as we please. So, from now on say no to excessive spending personally and write your representatives, or better yet invite them to the tea parties happening all over the country, or go to them in Washington D. C. If we take care of our selves, we do not need "Big Brother" telling us what to do. Personally, I find it quite liberating, I bet our grandparents and the founding fathers felt the same.