The Trillion Dollar Bailout That Won't Save Anyone...

Let's someone keeps acquiring debt, yet
does not have the money to pay the debt at the end of each month...What happens to them? Well, first you can assume that the debt collectors will be calling, emailing, snail-mailing, and potentially knocking on your door.

No let's change the wording a bit...

Let's say the U.S. government keeps acquiring debt, yet does not have the money to pay at the end of each month...What happens to them? Well, first you can assume NOTHING happens to them, except that they will be allowed to keep printing money from the Federal Reserve.

It always made me laugh in college when other students would argue with me over who prints our money. Such heated debates containing the hilarious phrase, "The United States Treasury prints money!" Ha-ha, ignorance must be bliss in this case, because it really shields the world from the fact that the U.S. Treasury does not print a single dollar; the Federal Reserve does, and these days they are printing as fast as their machines will allow so that the U.S. government can spend it faster and faster.
(Note: Look at any bill that you have in your pocket and take notice at the top where is says, "Federal Reserve Note".)

These thoughts all spun from recent headlines that read:

See where the stimulus money will go (CNN)
Mortgage Plan Would Help Millions Refinance (Washington Post)
Obama Unveils $75 Billion Plan to Fight Home Foreclosures (New York Times)

If you got to CNN.com they even give you a pretty and interactive picture!
(http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/18/stimulus.spending.chart/index.html)

Talks about how much money everyone willl recieve from the 2009 stimulus are already underway. Amounts such as $600, $250, etc. have all been mentioned. Oh boy! Will the American people get back $250 of the money that was already stolen from them?!? Well if you do, I hope your not planning on dinner and a movie because these days $250 will only get you a movie ticket, and don't plan on getting any extra popcorn either, that'll be another $25.00.

I know it sounds a bit harsh, but when the American economy is in the middle of one of the deepest recessions in our history, should the United States goverment really be deciding what we're going to do with OUR money? How is spending nearly 800 billion dollars realistic at this point? Yes, they scare us with phrases such as, "If we don't do anything it could get much, much worse"! Genuises with Harvard, Yale, and Stanford degrees, it is already going to get much, much worse no matter how many billions you decide to throw at it.

This is the prime time to be teaching Americans to be responsible for their own debt. Yes, we have all made some bad choices financially somewhere along the line, whether it was a hosue that we really couldn't afford, a new car we didn't really need, or maybe it was even an emergency medical bill that we weren't anticipating and couldn't avoid. We like to stay we are Americans loudly and proudly, but we need to be a little smarter Americans! Always, always have back up money for unexpected bills (e.g. medical bills), if you think that you can't save, cut things out of your budget like getting name brand food at the grocery, move somewhere cheaper, you don't need a new pair of shoes, you don't need to pay $50 to get your hair cut when you already own a pair of scissors and your friend has a steady hand. There are tons of ways to save so it is absolutely ridiculous that according to CNN Money the average American has over $10,000 in credit card debt.

Not to be mushy, but the AllState guy has it right, "It is time to go back to the basics", think about what is really important in your life and what you can do without. More importantly think about what kind of message the government is sending when it says, "Sorry you failed at paying your bills, so we are going to give you some money and bail you out without any real responsibility". If people really understood how much the government baby-ing us is doing to our economy and ultimately our own pocket books, I think a lot more people would be prone to call or write their Congressman and tell them to vote against bills that costs Americans $800 billion.

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm