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| Source: U.S. Office of Management and Budget, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/ by way of The Big Picture blog |
You may have a home mortgage, maybe an auto loan, perhaps a student loan balance, and—God forbid—credit card debt, but an increase in personal household debt like that shown above would bankrupt average Joe Q. Public. Is it going to be any different for our own U.S. of A. down the road?
No matter the amount of finger-pointing and jockeying going on in Washington, that limit will have to be raised again this summer. The real question needing an answer is when will they put ridiculous political rhetoric aside and begin to take the necessary, difficult steps to start turning this ship around? Just like a 1,000-foot ore carrier, a change of course is a very slow, deliberate process. Without tough decisions very soon, decisions that will affect each and every one of us, that change will never happen in time to avoid the iceberg.
I place the blame primarily in two places. Insanely complex Tax codes that allow those who can afford it to find ways to pay little or no tax, (not to mention subsidies) and an "Open Check Book" for military spending. The wars have been ridiculously expensive, (just think how long we have been funding them) but that is not the whole story. Just a basic look at the budget you can see that military spending is completely out of control, and in my opinion should be the first thing we approach in reversing this trend. Oddly, it is rarely discussed by our leaders... odd.
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