The Nation's Debt Problem

Take a look at our nation’s ever increasing deficit at http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ and you’ll get a great visual on how our own Government is failing in the area of fiscal responsibility. With our leadership unable to manage its finances, it stands to reason that those for whom it serves would also be struggling in this endeavor. And, as the American consumer provides the horsepower for our economic engine, it comes as no surprise that we are encouraged to keep on spending.


Now I’m not saying that all borrowing is bad. Without a mortgage, many of us would be unable to own the homes that we live in. What I’m talking about here is the unbribled spending that has led to an ever increasing "Anchor of Debt" that so many of us are dragging behind us. We have become so mired in payments that we struggle from paycheck to paycheck.

One answer to our dilemma, on the surface, is that we simply need to make more money. But, recession or not, most of us are making more money today than we were two or three years ago. Now one could argue that things just cost more today than they did a few short years ago, and maybe that's part of the problem. But, perhaps a deeper issue is that we keep accumulating more and more stuff. As our incomes have increased, so too have our lifestyles.