Today as I was listening to some talk radio and Rush Limbaugh was talking about what caused this financial mess. He said that many people are blaming people not living within their means, but he went on to say something to the effect that living beyond your means is the American Dream. He said that living beyond your means and the desire to always have something more, something better was what drives the free market.
I think he has a point about the desire for something better being one of the things that drives the free market. My desire to have nice things for my family, and the desire to take care of them in the best way that I can and to give them nice things is what drives me to give my best effort at work and in everything else I do. I totally agree that this is a very healthy motivation to always want to do better.
However, I strongly disagree that living beyond your means is part of the American Dream. The American Dream, to me, has nothing to do with going into debt. The American Dream can be achieved without spending more than you make. This is a basic truth that applies across the board. Each individual needs to evaluate their situation and budget their money to be able to sustain their lifestyle. The drive to have better, nicer things is great. However, it should be achieved by saving, investing and hard work, not by taking out loans that you will never be able to pay back.
Likewise, the government should never be allowed to pass a budget that is not balanced, or to spend more than is coming in. We may need to cut some programs. We have been living in a way that is costing much more than we are earning. If this continues, we are headed for disaster. Soon, our debt will own us. We will all be working only to pay interest on our national debt. Other countries will stop loaning money to us, and we will find ourselves unable to compete in the global market.
I know I'm not perfect, but I strongly encourage each of you to think about this. If each of us can start with our own families, it can spread.
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1 week ago
1 comment:
It should be easier to live within ones means than it is.
Consumerism drives the Western economy but at some point won't we will all have so much stuff that, like the Monty Python character, we will have one more wafer thin piece of chocolate and messily explode. Oh wait, I guess that is what's happening.
Good writing,
Steve
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