Are you willing to do what it takes to get the budget balanced, whichever budget that is, federal, state, county, city or your house?
Really?
You sure?
That is not a trick question. It is, however, one of the most uncomfortable questions you will be asked, at least if you are truthful.
So before you answer, I'm gonna get personal:
How much have you got set back for retirement? You may have a government pension plan or your company offers a pension plan. Ask the Enron retirees about company pensions. You are aware there is a move afoot to let state governments declare bankruptcy? If that happens state pension plans WILL be on the chopping block.
How much in an emergency savings account?
Ah. Ok.
How much do you spend a month on cell phones, internet and cable/satellite TV?
Shop out of town much?
Still say you are willing to do what is necessary?
Maybe you need to listen to Allen West before you are willing to say you will do what’s necessary to restore fiscal sanity.
Telling quote: “It was a sober discussion with no applause lines and which the audience met mostly with silence. West tried to reassure them.”
Prior to this, West was met with a “standing ovation.”
Mmph.
Our Chamber of Commerce President Shelley Zorn is constantly saying “No one is going to save us, but us.”
How’s your life preserver these days? Will it hold several people? Two people? Will it even keep your head above water?
You may now ask “What does my willingness to do what it takes to get government in order have to do with my personal finances?”
The kind of person you are when you think no one is watching is the person you really are. If you won’t order your personal fiscal house, there’s no way you’ll be willing to make the sacrifices necessary with tax dollars to get government in shape.
A short story - You can take a puppy and put down a bowl of water. The puppy will drink just enough to slake his thirst. Put two (or more) puppies and they will empty the water dish completely. It’s not that they need the water, they are just determined to get as much as they can before the other pupp(ies) get theirs.
Some time back a couple of people in my community raised a bit of hell about government grants. They said these grants must stop. I like it. I also researched a tiny bit on these people. Just two of the speakers, over the past 12 years, amassed more that $2 million in government grants. Yeah, I have the records.
They are willing to put other people on the chopping block, but not themselves.
Sounds like puppies to me.
It’s also a case of NIMBY. Not In My Back Yard.
Still willing to do what’s necessary, even if it means you’ll be hit harder than some of your neighbors? Gonna happen you know. When the pain comes down, it won’t be spread evenly. Some gonna get more, some gonna get less.
I tellya neighbor, it may not matter if you are willing. Look at Europe, Greece, Spain and other countries which are being hammered because of poor government fiscal policy.
When the bill comes due, you won’t have much of a choice on how and when to pay it. You’ll be told and you will have no recourse for relief.
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
The views in this blog are not those of people who can't think for themselves and rely on others to think for them. For that matter, the views expressed here may not be those of people who CAN think for themselves, but it comes extremely close.
Amen Brother, no one wants the cuts and suspensions to be for them just the "other people." They don't seem to realize that they are "other people" to someone. Thanks to my wife's brilliant financial skills, barring any unforseen emergencies, we will be completely debt free by 2015 except for a very reasonable house note. No car payments, no credit cards etc. We have also been carefully planning for retirement for 15 years. People need to stop saying, "Me me me!" and start working on "how?"
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