Thinking is not optional

When will it end? Not in my lifetime is my view. I’m 64, but I expect to live a long time. So, what am I saying?  Our country is addicted to government bailouts, believing we’ll gain more than we lose in the process or that everyone will win, despite the obvious HUGE government deficits that are now happening and will happen in the future. These bailouts are REAL debt. You may have benefited from ‘cash for clunkers’ or the first-time home owner credit, but somebody has to pay for the billions of dollars spent on these programs. Just today, I hear the U.S. Post Office needs another $4 billion dollar bailout. I also hear the first-time home buyer credit may well be extended. More debt for all of us. I know you still think you probably win in this long list of government interventions into the economy. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but somebody must pay in the end. Maybe the Japanese and Chinese will continue to buy our debt and lose money as the U.S. dollar continues to depreciate, but, even if they do, inflation wipes out the value of our savings and the debt burden we pass on to future Americans, think about your kids and  their kids, will become even more onerous despite inflation. Our debt burden is raising much faster than inflation and will continue to do so in the next few years at least so inflation, if it happens,  will not lower our National debt burden. What happens if we fall into the pattern Japan has experienced with low inflation or even slight deflation year after year and slow growth?  Our debt burden becomes ever more onerous in this scenario.

I see no easy solution. Assuming we actually turn things around, there will be lots of financial pain in America even if we start taking what I believe to be the proper steps, i.e. get government out of economics. The most likely steps we will see are MORE government intervention into the economy; this will only lead to more pain in the future for ALL of us, including our kids and other future generations of Americans.

‘Quality of life’ is a nebulous concept, but I’ll bet our future holds less quality than we currently have, even if we start taking the proper steps to turn things around. The only question is how much pain we must endure to right our ship. I’d rather take the pain now and save our country from much greater pain down the road even if that might not be until I’m gone.