I find it funny that the Presidential candidates are now turning to the financial crisis that America is experiencing and each candidate is promising to be the hero of our financial crisis. Just the week before each candidate was promising to rescue every person from Hurricane IKE.
No matter the issue or topic especially the one that the country is dealing with, the new President is promising to be our hero, whether it be: Education, Health Care, Abortion, Economy, Taxes, Social Security, Gun Control, Drugs, Civil Rights, Jobs, Energy & Oil, War, or Foreign Policy. No matter the issue/problem they are going to promise to fix it and say whatever it takes to get them to the oval office.
Then what happens, they made thousands of empty promises and are any fulfilled? Are any of these promises that they made over certain issuse solved. Do we remmber any one President for making the US better regarding one of these issues, if so, why are there all these issues that we are still dealing with?
I don't want to sound like a ungrateful citizen because I do love this country, I just periodically wonder if we are heading in the best direction?
I believe it all comes down to money. Sure this is easy to say now with today's headlines, but those that know me, know that this has been my number one issue regarding the US government and how they handle themselves. It seems that each candidate in the past, foremost at election time, tip toe around the national debt issue becasue it has become too big for them to solve the problem. And it is a HUGE PROBLEM!
Check out the following sobering link for the national debt clock:
At the time of this post, the national debt is $9,650,033,000,000.00 That is 9.65 Trillion dollars which is equal to 9,650 Billion dollars or 9,650,000 million dollars. (basically 9.65 million million dollars, if that makes sense to you).
See a problem yet? If you don't you should realize that each year the US government (with our taxpaying dollars) pays over 300 billion dollars in INTEREST on our national debt (money that goes down the drain). In 2006 that payment was over 406 billion dollars. We spend about 61 billion on education, and 56 billion on transportation, nice comparison to money that we send down the tube huh! (http://www.federalbudget.com/)
The recent government intervention for Fanni Mae and Freddie Mac along with AIG and Merril Lynch all puts the brunt of these financial rescues on the taxpayer. What message are we sending to citizens anyways? We let these huge companies that have many high end salaried workers screw up and we forgive them and bouy them up by placing the cost on the taxpayer. That is very nice for these people I will admit, but it appears we are over the edge.
Next time I go to the bankrupt court for not paying my $51 water bill, I will suggest to the court that we have the government interceed and have the 240+ million Americans flip the bill. No wonder the DOW is plunging 500 points a day!
Why should I even have a 401K?
I came across a website that actually has a documentary film that came out August 2008 called I.O.U.S.A. It is a documentary about the financial "CRISIS" of the United States of America. I would love to see the movie but it has only come to select cities thus far. I recommend watching the trailer at the following site: http://www.agorafinancial.com/iousa.html
I do not like the fact that our government is leveraging against the taxpayer's future and the taxpayer's childrens futures as well. There inappropriate leveraging will be paid by me and my kids and grandkids. The government should lead by example, then maybe the citizens might start saving more than they spend! Could our government even imagine being debt free? Is it attainable?
Some worry that other countries we lend money from might someday own America! Then what? We go to war because we won't pay our debtors because we can't keep our credit cards in our pockets? To see who owns a percentage of America visit the following link: http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
With all this in mind and the upcoming elections on the line I can't help but realize what the past democratic president did to the national debt when he took office in 1992. If Obama can do what Clinton did to the national budget than he has my vote.
Note that the national debt actually began to reverse under the Clinton administration.
I will leave you with the following quotation from a news report titled "Global Agenda: Armageddon"
"It is actually possible to make a valid case for each of the decisions taken by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke (and rubber-stamped by Mr. President) over the course of the debt crisis, since it began in July 2007. But taken together, they show a consistent pattern of: a) being reactive rather than proactive; b) acting in a sporadic manner, without having thought through what their wider implications were; c) the absence of an overall plan to address the widening, deepening and intensifying crisis; d) failing to communicate effectively with either the markets (Wall Street) or the general public (Main Street) - let alone the wider global community"
May we all strive to be proactive about our own personal debts and strive to make good financial decisions!!!
Pull Your Head Out.....
2 comments:
Good points all.
In response to 'money down the drain', some of that interest is paid back to Americans who hold debt certificates of the US (T-bills, US bonds, etc.).
Still, an amazingly large amount of our debt is owned by foreigners.
It doesn't refute the fact that Americans still pay that interest, but at least some small amount goes back into our own pockets.
I have to agree with you about the democratic nominee possibly doing something about the debt. There's something about the Republican party that makes me feel like "the good ol' boy network" that Sarah Palin was talking about rejecting in Alaska, is alive and well in Washington and she is getting herself sucked into it rather than fighting it. Do you know if the Clinton administration raised taxes in order to decrease the debt? I'll have to check that out. Even so, despite Americans whining about high taxes, we have a comparably low tax rate compared to other countries. I would not be the least bit upset if taxes were raised a little if I could be sure that my money would be used to take care of the debt or other wise purpose. I suppose that's the risk you take when you vote, you vote on the hope the candidate will be wise.
I find it amusing that the press and other people are blaming President Bush for the DOW drop and other financial woes. While he of course had a say in where money went and how much to pledge to other people/nations, he is not solely responsible for the greedy, power-hungry executives of mortgage lenders. Looks like interest-only mortgages didn't accomplish what they wanted in the end. Only in hindsight are people (who probably thrilled that they could enter into interest only mortgages themselves) accusing President Bush of not putting restrictions on mortgage companies. I agree that controlling our own personal debt and being smart about our wants and needs will give us peace of mind while other have lost theirs.
Sorry my remarks were a little tangential. I love your new blog though!
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