Many people find it is lots of fun to buy and spend, not only for what we “need” but also for what we just “want.” But it can be painful when the bills come in at the first of the month. How do we try to reconcile what we earn with what we owe?
Isn’t it strange that, while we can’t ignore our personal spending facts, many of us ignore the fact that we can’t reasonably have our nation’s government spend more than a trillion dollars a year beyond what we pay in high taxes without terrible consequences?
Nobody suggests we will have a “balanced” federal budget this year, next year or anytime soon! We are adding about $1.4 trillion a year to our $13 trillion-plus national debt, on which we have to pay interest.
But a “bipartisan” commission has been appointed to try to face some of the hard facts. It says we need to cut deficits by roughly $4 trillion over the next 10 years.
How? Certainly not easily.
President Barack Obama this week said, “We’re going to have to take actions that are difficult, and we’re going to have to tell the truth to the American people.”
You’ve heard the saying that “the devil is in the details.” Well, the painful facts are in the specifics.
“Cut waste and fraud,” many suggest immediately. Good. But that alone won’t solve the problem.
So there is unpopular talk of raising the Social Security retirement age, very gradually, to 69.
There is also talk of reducing planned increases in Social Security checks.
Another unpopular idea is to quit allowing homeowners to deduct their mortgage interest costs in filing their income tax forms.
Then there are proposals to raise the tax on each gallon of gasoline we buy.
These are just a few examples of painful suggestions.
Because no solution, or even alleviation, would be easy, we not only have put off potential answers but continue irresponsible spending that makes the problem worse.