How many of us who consider ourselves fiscally responsible when it comes to managing our own personal funds would ever think it wise to carry a huge deficit which continually grows because of the interests tacked on to it? I don't know about you, but it scares the daylights out of me.
I am grateful to my Slovak immigrant parents who I saw struggle because of inequities to the working population of immigrants who came to America for a new start. But they, and I believe many of their ilk, still managed to pay their bills as long as they were employed. They even gladly took on the most menial jobs as long as it meant putting food on the table. We didn't have a lot of money but we sure didn't have a lot of bills either because they were paid promptly. When I was a child my parents were finally able to buy a home- a simple one - but in time it was wholly ours. My parents who didn't have more than a couple of years of schooling in what was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire seem to me to be more savvy when it comes to handling money than many of us in this land of what was once full of opportunity and well-paying jobs.
Okay, you can stop playing the violin and are asking - what's my point? Maybe we are clearly in an even worse predicament then our fledgling nation was at this early time in history. With the help of Roosevelt's Good Deal inniatives, we were able to climb out of the Depression of the 30's without our country being mired with a huge deficit debt.
So how do we get out of today's overwhelming debt which keeps on accruing rapidly with the huge amounts of interest tacked on to it? I'm laughing too thinking that someone like me who knows practically nothing about accounting or spending large amounts of money should have the chutzpah to think she can come up with an answer. No, I'm not that stupid but I believe that we need to start hacking away at this humongous debt in small ways and in ways where we all can make a contribution.
First, I am saddened that the rich still want to enjoy the Bush tax cuts. Do you need them? If so then I can understand. But sorry, I don't think this is the case. And while I'm at it- wouldn't it be wonderful if our billionaires would each contribute a billion or more dollars towards diminishing the deficit? But they will probably say - we already pay more than enough in taxes. Even so, I would remind them they are still billionaires and our country is in dire straits.
All right - who else has money to spare? I think most of our Washington politicians from the President down to his cabinet, the 535 House Representatives and 50 Senators are being well paid. What about $10,000 from each of them for this very important need? Your holding your sides from laughter I imagine, but this is no laughing matter.
Next - what about all of us? How many of you REALLY needed that tax refund? If you didn't, could you send it back to help defray our deficit? Yes, you say but it should start with me and I agree. I did send my small refund back.
If implemented, will all these measures significantly reduce our deficit? Probably not, but it should do two things -first we should realize that no matter how small our measures to lesson the deficit, we should utilize them. Secondly - let us finally realize how profligate we have been in spending money and that we need to learn lessons in this regard. Responsible people never spend more than their budget will allow. Our country should do the same.
