Common Sense

My husband watches the news. I make that a sentence unto itself because I prefer not to. Unfortunately, I do end up seeing far more of it than would be my preference, as I live in the same house as him. While I sit and listen, I can feel my blood pressure rising, my stress levels increasing, my happiness decreasing. Where is the common sense in politics?

Right now every report is about the direness of the debt ceiling situation. Obama and the democrats state that if it is not raised, the sky is going to fall. The republicans refuse to sign anything into law that does not include drastic spending cuts. Both sides refuse to work together to come up with a solution unless the other side moves over to their way of thinking. There is no center, there is only my way or the highway.

There are no jobs, therefore unemployment is out of control. Unfortunately, it is outrageously expensive to be a business owner in this country. In our efforts to provide the best possible work environments, while keeping every semi-endangered insect safe, we have priced our selves right out of the employment market. Smart business owners are moving out of the country, where the taxes and the minimum wages are lower. Nobody wants to invest their time, effort, creativity and hard-earned dollar into something that is doomed to fail from the start as a result of government restrictions, guidelines and taxation.

We can no longer afford Medicare and Social Security as they stand. The people paying for these programs will never see a dime of their money. Thanks to governments continual borrowing from this account, it is unsustainable. However, if someone dares to bring up changing the qualifications or cutting the benefits, the people currently benefiting from it put their collective feet down and yell "keep your hands off my money!" I can completely understand their dilemma. Most of them worked their entire adult lives, paying into these funds from their paychecks each and every week, expecting that they would collect upon retirement. Now they are retired and they are collecting. The fact that the money they put into it has been mishandled by the government and is GONE does not matter. The government owes them and, by golly, they will pay out every cent. Trouble with this thinking is that it's not the government who will be affected ... it is our children and grandchildren. At this point, it is not a benefit, a retirement option, a health care option for anyone under the age of 50. It is just another tax. Only on this tax, there are no deductions you can take to offset some of the cost. It's just money you pay into an account that you will never see again. Fun!

Common sense. In my house, when the dollars going out exceed the dollars coming in, we get rid of the things that are taking us over our budget. I love having DVR and watching TV in High Def, however, if we are suddenly without funds, those are 2 of the first things to get cut. I would love to have a brand new car, but, the one I am currently driving is OK and it is paid off ... so I stick with what I have. We don't live in the same state as any other member of our family, but the cost of fuel is outrageous right now, so I have to put off visiting until we can afford it. No matter how much it hurts them or us, we all have to suffer until the economy (and fuel prices!) improve. Flying or driving is simply not an option. Vacations to idyllic destinations are definitely not in the cards, no matter how hard we work and deserve the stress break. I have credit card debt, therefore, nothing gets paid for with credit until I get that paid off. I don't call MasterCard and ask them to raise my debt ceiling. I drop my spending and pay it off.

Common sense says the US Government can no longer afford to keep going as it currently is. In any other "corporation" this would mean lay-offs. Sorry, your salary is no longer something we can afford, you need to find a new job. Good Luck. If they can not come up with a plan that decreases spending drastically, we can't afford to keep them on staff. Not to mention all their subordinates. If I was CEO, I would make my department heads balance their individual budget ... show where they are bringing in the money and justify how it is being spent. If they can't do that, I would overhaul the department myself. Probably by eliminating it, or cleaning house and hiring new people at lesser salaries.

Listen up, Washington. We can't afford you. We can't afford welfare, social security, medicare, nation building, regime overthrowing, endowments for the arts, national parks and paying top dollar for fuel from other countries because we don't want to dirty up our own backyard.

Listen up, America. If you don't put money into an account, we can't afford to let you withdraw from it. If you have been on welfare for more than 5 years, I'm sorry, it's time to get off. If you can't afford to have children, don't have unprotected sex. If you can't afford to buy groceries, buy seeds and grow your food. If you can't afford your house, sell it and move somewhere that you can afford. If you can't afford food and shelter, then you certainly can't afford a car, cell phone, television or any other luxury item. It's not your right to own. It is, however, your right to work and purchase. If you choose to *purchase* a new television with all the money you have, don't expect me to pay for your food. It's not the job of the government to take care of the sick, ailing or the elderly. That is the job of the family, the church, the community. If you want to have security in your later years, save your money in your early years. Preferably somewhere where the government can't get to it because we have seen how well they plan and save. The mattress is looking pretty good right now.

Yep, it's gonna hurt. Yep, we are going to have to give up some things. But, holy cow, come on, guys, it's time to use the brain that your creator endowed you with and activate a little common sense.

Seriously.