By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Jul 18, 2011, at 1:38 PM Updated on 7/18 at 1:38 PM
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Debt free. It sounds nice. If the United States would only pay off its debt then everyone would be happy and the economy would turn around.
I’m no economist, but that seems too simple. And those clamoring to pay off the debt and pass a balanced budget amendment also seem somewhat hypocritical.
Again, I’m no economic wizard, but is debt all that bad?
Do all of those people trying to scare the beejezus out of us debt-free? Is their house paid off? How about their car? Or their credit card bill, or their children’s educational costs or their medical bills?
Maybe some in the tea party, which includes a lot of retired people, do have their homes and their cars paid for. Most Americans, however, don’t. They’re in debt.
I have a car payment, a house payment, a moderate credit card bill and some medical bills. Therefore, I’m in debt. So, to rid myself of this debt I’m supposed to cut my expenses. But my income stays the same.
OK, I try to play golf once a week. And I like Scotch. And I occasionally like to eat out. I don’t buy a lot of new clothes (which my co-workers will swear to), I try not to buy things I don’t need (I really need a new driver, but I’ve that off for four years and that’s costing me money on the golf course). I’m not cheap, but neither do I throw money around.
So, where do I cut my expenses? I can’t tell my mortgage company, car loan company or credit card company that I’m only going to be paying on the interest from now on. They eventually would come and get my house and car.
I suppose I could get rid of the car and walk. I could sell the house and pitch a tent. Then I would be almost debt-free.
I’m stumped as to exactly what the government is supposed to get rid of and not increase its income level through taxes in order to pay off its $14 trillion debt.
I’m all for raising the retirement age for Social Security. Hell, raise it to 70 for all I care. After the debacle of my 401k, I’m not planning to retire anytime soon anyway.
As for the tea party protests: At every rally I’ve seen it looks as if the majority are recipients of Medicare and Social Security. So, they don’t want those entitlements touched. Just the ones for other people.
It would be great if both the country and I were debt free. The fact is, however, we’re not. And likely never will be. And the country is managing its debt about as well as I manage mine and better than a lot of other people manage theirs.
By the way, the country has been working on and off on Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down” theory for more than 30 years. When is it supposed to start working?
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