Two or three years out of college I was in a discussion about what might bring the United States of America to its knees, what might take the USA out of the role of world leader, military and economic super power, and relegate it to the sidelines on the playing field of history. Nuclear war was the senario of most or some unknown natural disaster or disease. I commented that I believed that if the USA were to lose its role of world leader it would be a combination of two things: First, a great moral decline. A rejection fo the Judeo-Christian values that was held by the majority of Americans throughout the history of our nation up to that point, and secondly an Economic and Financial crisis.
It appears that we may have both occuring today roughly 30 years later. Our nation is sinking rapidly into the abyss of national debt, stealing over 15 trillion dollars, and counting, from our future, our childrens future, and generation after generations futures.
It has gotten so bad that a member of the British Parliment Daniel Hannan, has authored a book entitled “The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America.” trying to warn America to abandon its current swift slide to European style socialism and return to a truly free enterprise economy and fiscal policies that will balance a budget.
Balancing a budget is not difficult you take the money that comes in, you prioritize your spending, then you divy up the money into those priorities, and when it comes to zero you stop spending. Every family who is umwilling to go in debt knows this simple technique. It is called living within your means. There is only one way to go into debt and that is to spend more than you bring in. When you spend more than you bring in then you borrow from your future. When I was a child in late elementary school we used ot laugh at the Popeye cartoon character Wimpy when he would say "I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today." It seemed such a ludicrous concept. We understood you payed for what you got and if you couldn't you did without. If at 10 or 11 years old we could grasp the concept of living within your means why is it so hard for politicians?
As John Stossel said "We Americans feel entitled.... We work longer and harder than Europeans, but American students say they are entitled to government loans; industries and their friends in politics insist that housing, agriculture, energy and all sorts
of other businesses deserve subsidies; and most everyone expects health care to be free, or nearly free. Many politicians tell people that’s all possible, and some promise more."
Almost everyone democrat, republican, liberal or conservative that I talk to agrees that the Government does very little well and usually instead of soving a problem and helping the citizens it creates a costly, inefficient, and ineffective bureaucracy. But yet many of these people still belive that we ought to rely on government to solve our problems so we end up as Stossel says "Why don’t we learn? Because there are problems that must be solved, and politicians act so interested in our welfare that we believe them when they say, “Yes, we can.” But the educated response to “Yes, we can” is “No, they can’t.”
Not when “they” means government. Our government should be a fraction of the size it is now. Its girth is the result of electioneering politicians who promise the moon to gullible voters while using debt to push the costs onto our children and grandchildren."
If and only if "We the People" will say no to the ballooning spending of governments at all levels, Federal, State, and Local, will we avoid the relegation of the United States of America to the sidelines of History and lose the lifestyles that we have come to know and wish for our children.
(Quotes from the article: Ten Years to Greece, by John Stossel, published in Human Events
It appears that we may have both occuring today roughly 30 years later. Our nation is sinking rapidly into the abyss of national debt, stealing over 15 trillion dollars, and counting, from our future, our childrens future, and generation after generations futures.
It has gotten so bad that a member of the British Parliment Daniel Hannan, has authored a book entitled “The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America.” trying to warn America to abandon its current swift slide to European style socialism and return to a truly free enterprise economy and fiscal policies that will balance a budget.
Balancing a budget is not difficult you take the money that comes in, you prioritize your spending, then you divy up the money into those priorities, and when it comes to zero you stop spending. Every family who is umwilling to go in debt knows this simple technique. It is called living within your means. There is only one way to go into debt and that is to spend more than you bring in. When you spend more than you bring in then you borrow from your future. When I was a child in late elementary school we used ot laugh at the Popeye cartoon character Wimpy when he would say "I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today." It seemed such a ludicrous concept. We understood you payed for what you got and if you couldn't you did without. If at 10 or 11 years old we could grasp the concept of living within your means why is it so hard for politicians?
As John Stossel said "We Americans feel entitled.... We work longer and harder than Europeans, but American students say they are entitled to government loans; industries and their friends in politics insist that housing, agriculture, energy and all sorts
of other businesses deserve subsidies; and most everyone expects health care to be free, or nearly free. Many politicians tell people that’s all possible, and some promise more."
Almost everyone democrat, republican, liberal or conservative that I talk to agrees that the Government does very little well and usually instead of soving a problem and helping the citizens it creates a costly, inefficient, and ineffective bureaucracy. But yet many of these people still belive that we ought to rely on government to solve our problems so we end up as Stossel says "Why don’t we learn? Because there are problems that must be solved, and politicians act so interested in our welfare that we believe them when they say, “Yes, we can.” But the educated response to “Yes, we can” is “No, they can’t.”
Not when “they” means government. Our government should be a fraction of the size it is now. Its girth is the result of electioneering politicians who promise the moon to gullible voters while using debt to push the costs onto our children and grandchildren."
If and only if "We the People" will say no to the ballooning spending of governments at all levels, Federal, State, and Local, will we avoid the relegation of the United States of America to the sidelines of History and lose the lifestyles that we have come to know and wish for our children.
(Quotes from the article: Ten Years to Greece, by John Stossel, published in Human Events