Category: accountability

Is anyone else disturbed and embarrassed by our national debt? America’s way of doing business is expensive. The current national debt is a staggering  . It’s hard to quantify such a number. I think it would be accurate to describe it as irresponsible and disheartening. It didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t run-up by one administration, or one party. If America truly is a democratic republic, then we all have a part in this number. If the government works for us, we have a responsibility – an obligation – to see this number go down. But how?

I certainly don’t know the answers, but I do know what our household does when we forecast a shortfall in our budget. I don’t demand more money from my employer or go out looking for a higher-paying job. We reduce spending. We look seriously at what is a ‘want’ and what is a ‘need’. We make do. We scrimp. We pinch. We save. We survive. It’s simple math. Spend less than you make. Live within your means.

At some point we as a country stopped making fiscal responsibility a priority. We treat debt as a way of life – a necessity to live the ‘American Dream’. It isn’t. True, the politicians all know how to pay lip-service as to how they plan to lower that number, but it will take each one of us to adopt financial accountability as a priority in our own lives. Isn’t it hypocritical to expect the government to be debt-free if we’re not? I think if we want to save America, we need to save, America.