As of this moment, we in the United States are sitting on a ticking bomb that most of us probably don't realize is as serious as it is. That ticking bomb is our debt. I'll be talking about just our state and federal debt -- although it would be worth talking about our personal debt problem, as well. We have debt at every level. It's weighing heavily on the shoulders of the people of this nation, and it's not going to go away the way things are going.
At the federal level, we now have $14.3 trillion in debt. The 50 states combined have a total of over $2.6 trillion of state government debt:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/state_summary.php?chart=Z0&year=2011&units=b&rank=D
In addition to the federal debt, I've seen statistics showing that we have over $15 trillion in unfunded social security liabilities, $78.98 trillion in unfunded Medicare liabilities and $19.86 trillion in unfunded prescription drug liabilities. You can probably see why you hear many say some of those things will not be around in 20 or 30 years -- even though our generation has been paying into them supposedly for our benefit someday. In reality, social security and Medicare are nothing more than taxes used to fund present-day programs, and not the savings plans they were supposed to be.
I truly believe that we have to blame everyone on this. We are to blame for continually and apparently voting the wrong types of people into the legislating bodies. And, the politicians creating the budgets have to be blamed for being so reckless with our state and federal budgets. We can't just blame a governor of a state, or the President of the United States when these things happen. Sure, they sign the budgets into law. But, it starts in the legislative sessions.
As I see it, the biggest factor with our out-of-control spending is the size of government today. Government jobs are always a liability to the taxpayers, and a burden. While government employees pay taxes, too, the entire body of taxpayers pay their salaries. In addition, there are so many government programs now days -- I don't know that most in the government are even aware that half of them exist. Why do we need large government? Why not cut the size of government down dramatically -- both in terms of employees, and in programs -- and move whatever is truly needed to the private sector? At least then the services and salaries of those employed in the programs are no longer payed by the taxpayers, but only by those who need or want their services. We should never be forced to pay for things that other people want that they don't truly need.
I say one of the first items that needs to be cut is pensions for government employees. All things being equal, retirement funds between private-sector workers and public-sector workers are not equal. Government employees, on average, do receive a lot more money -- via us taxpayers -- for their retirement than an average private-sector employee receives from their employer. Why the division between government workers and private-sector workers? Where's the equality? Why not hold those in government jobs more accountable for planning for their retirement like the rest of us, so that we don't have to pay for someone else's retirement when it can be interesting enough trying to fund our own? I guess I just don't believe in giving people who are capable of doing more on their own a free ride.
With a much smaller government, we wouldn't be taxed nearly as much. So, in turn, those wanting certain services could use the money they no longer pay in taxes to apply towards those services they still want. If no one wants to pay for the services, then that's probably a very good indication that they weren't needed in the first place (likely a high percentage of those). Those working in those programs could then be employed in more useful ways to society. It's a win-win for everyone, as far as I am concerned.
What we are unfortunately forced to live with, instead, is a government that -- when faced with huge debt and budget deficits -- can't make the necessary cuts. Instead, they'd rather raise taxes on certain groups of taxpayers, and/or create new sources of tax revenue -- like state-approved casinos, etc. Why do our elected officials insist on spending MORE money all the time when they should be spending LESS, and attacking our debt head-on? How can any one of them fault the average American with more credit card debt than they should have, or a mortgage they can't afford if they're going to set the kind of example they are setting?
Another unfortunate effect of big government is people become dependent on them, and on the services they now provide -- to the point where people that once lived fine without certain services, now will claim they cannot. Do you see how they hook you? Once they know they have you, they know they have your votes, as well. There's a theory out there among some that says that the reason politicians promise to do one thing, but then do the opposite is because the things they promise to do are too difficult to pull-off without losing support of a good chunk of their constituents. So, instead of doing the right thing, and the good thing -- they sometimes do the things that will get them into office again next election cycle, which typically involves spending money on people and things that they want at everyone's expense. Government cannot run that way!
I think that there is a clear lack of understanding in this country of what true needs are vs. what wants are. Many of the things people say they need are not needs at all. Individuals who want something should pay for their own wants. I shouldn't have to pay for them. More importantly, the government shouldn't offer them. There are genuine needs that I agree we should all chip-in for. But, a lot of the spending going on in government doesn't fall into the "genuine need" category. I recently heard that one school district in Minnesota is looking at hiring a recess coach for each of 25 schools to give kids structured recess, or playground time. If the idea of structured play time isn't wrong enough, the real kicker is they would be paying $60,000 more per school than they are today to staff a recess coach. The city in this particular area of schools has something like a $25 million debt. Does that sound responsible, and like government is stepping in to fill a need? A recess coach to provide structured play time? What's wrong with the old system that has worked fine for many years, where a rotation of teachers who are already paid to be on-staff monitor the kids during recess, and lets the kids be as creative as they want to be during their play time? Just like many other programs and things government pays for, this just doesn't make good sense on so many levels.
Another problem with big government is the bigger it gets, the more it becomes a mother or father figure to the rest of the populous. We are supposed to live in a unique country, where our elected officials are public servants who go to work on our behalf, and do not dictate to us how to live our lives. However, it seems as though the more time goes by, government in our country represents us less and less, and dictates to us more and more what we can and can't do. We haven't approached the level of tyranny that the people who fought for our independence from the English Crown experienced twenty-some decades ago. But, doesn't it appear as though we're slowly heading in that direction?
As someone who is very responsible with my own personal finances, I'm disappointed and frustrated with the level of irresponsibility that has gone on in state and federal government that has led to the point we are at today. Please know that I am not trying to sugar-coat that message, because I believe it has to be said bluntly for anyone to get the idea. I do know that there are some good, hard-working and moral people in government. I shouldn't use as broad a brush as I have used here. But, looking at government as a whole, it isn't functioning the way that it needs to, or ought to. Our form of government, when established, was meant to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. It was never meant to guarantee that you would get everything that you want -- only give you the opportunity to pursue them. We all need to wake up to that fact and see where we are headed. If there's ever a moment where we can't say we're heading in the right direction, then something has to change.
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