He told his wife that they were going to have to tighten the belt and make some changes. She knew it had to happen, but inwardly she began making a mental list of all the things she hoped weren't part of those new changes.
Family expenses were laid out on the table. They had to eat (check), pay the mortgage (check), and there were some pay downs and monthlies that clamored to the top of the list. What was left?
They had to decide about giving God a portion of their income. There were school expenses....and they had to decide their basic needs for eating out/entertainment/gifts. They needed a whole column for gas. Where could they prioritize? They looked for slack everywhere.
Mr. Smith decided the beginning place was to frame a budget. He got his children involved and his heart melted as he listened to how his kids wanted to help. Mrs. Smith took comfort. Although times were a challenge, her husband was protecting his family and they were pulling the load together. What is a massage or getting her nails done...compared to that? Larry Burkett says that being debt-free is the new BMW.
On a larger scale, the President is our leader, in charge of a DEEP debt hole (14.3 trillion) that has the potential to destroy our country without a shot. Americans put the economic issue as second only to the issue of keeping us safe from terrorism.
WWtSD (What Would the Smith's Do?) Think they'd spend their way out of the red? What if the Smith's plan to cut spending was to just freeze their current uber-spending level? Would that help? That was the budget proposal the President offered back in February. But that just plays games with columns of future figures. The proposed budget didn't do one single thing that his "governing by committee" Debt Commission suggested. Printing more money can't be counted as a real plan. It is morally abject for America to continue to spend above what we have...and further hock ourselves to the Chinese.
The President SAYS the economy is important, but what does he DO? The budget was "business not attended to" while his party was the majority from 2007 until last fall. Why? Claire McCaskill (Senator, Missouri) said in an interview that they didn't have the numbers. The majority...short on numbers? Translation: WE can't even commit to what we wrote.
If you are saying that Congress writes the budget and not the President, that's right. But it is the President's job to cast the vision and herd the cats. Now the Republicans have come up with a budget, so the President is working on a totally different one. He is scheduled to tell us about it tomorrow night. Well, good. We need one.
But it will be interesting. The man who made the excess debt is now in a position to have to cut his own doing. Cut, baby, cut!
"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition." Thomas Jefferson
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