Congress: The Short Bus to Nowhere

A lot is going on in the economy, that is winding up like a clock spring.

We have our elected officials who spend our taxes and have absolutely no training in basic economics. Deficit spending is considered Ok because there are no consequences. If we can’t pay for it, push the bill into the future (i.e. to when they are out of office). Plus, it’s not their money so they can be generous and buy a few votes for reelection.

There are two types of people, those who responsibly save for their future or those that are irresponsible and live on the fringe; enjoy now, the Hell with tomorrow. The government has a real problem with the second group, that’s why they take your taxes out of your paycheck before you get it. FDR proposed Social Security to keep retirees from dumpster diving (they had just had the worst financial bank failure that wiped out millions of peoples savings).

The basics of finance haven’t changed over the ages. If you borrow money, you pay it back to redeem the debt. There is a problem with governments, borrowing money. The saver has no say-so on who borrows his savings. The full faith and credit of the government is usually good enough for government to access and acquire the funds needed.

Notice how banks are needed to keep the operation of loans going. This is why the banks were not allowed to fail in the 2008 debacle, this was the government’s piggy bank. Right now, the government owes 22 trillion dollars to “parties unknown.” If the current treasury rate went to 8 ½ % the US government could not pay the interest on the national debt from the taxes collected. The 22 trillion dollars is probably a lot more than the total savings of everyone in the United States.

Now we have Democrats that want to have Single Payer health insurance and a living wage for all. Where will the money come from to pay for all of this? The reply heard from some Congressmen is “Tax the Rich.” How do you get rich? Save your hard earned (already tax paid) dollars for 40 years. Now the government wants to go after your bank account not your wages.

I remember back 50 years ago when cigarettes were 24 cents a pack and today, they are $6 dollars a pack. Government inflation has eaten into long term savings. With the coming election, our elected officials want to give us more in return for our vote to get them reelected.

Our problems are real, our elected representatives are out of some fairy tale book. Their solutions to our problems are way out of touch. It reminds me of the Obama “Cure for Hemorrhoids,” a gasoline enema, with the warning “Don’t fart when you light the match, you’ll burn the hair off of your nuts.” The warning gives the user the false sense of security that the caregiver knows what they are talking about.