Friday, July 29, 2011

I'm typing this in betwTh

I stopped being involved in politics at all for a while. Now, when there isn't any good music on the radio, I listen to NPR news on the way to work. Sometimes, if the news story is good, I won't check back for music. Anyway.

This debt limit thing is crazy.

I don't understand it, I mean, it's a multifaceted and complex issue. Our debt sucks, though, and anyone can tell you that the longer you put off paying your bills, the worse things will be in the end. I don't know if what we're watching happen is the beginning of a financial reckoning for the United States. I wonder if anyone thought our debts would come due like this. I don't understand why the debate is over raising the debt ceiling. We did that in February, and our debts simply came due a little later. We still have to pay. We just can't borrow more. Maybe that's a good thing.

And, meanwhile, we have two wars going on, wars that - if our airport's increasingly stringent and invasive security measures are any indication - don't make us any safer.

The other thing is that our leaders are tossing around numbers like trillion as if they mean nothing. It's as if they can't scale their imagination. A trillion of anything is a lot. Multiple trillions is crazy.

Why can't the government operate like a business? I mean, I'm not crazy, right? Every successful company operates at a profit. They pay their workers, their operating costs, their debts, and they have money left over. So, why can't the government? Why can't they charge (tax) for services (armies, schools, healthcare) and have money left over? That's not a stupid idea. I feel like the government gets used to bad business because they don't have to work for their paycheck. They just get it from taxpayers. Which is how it's supposed to work. But... don't act like you deserve my money. I'm only giving it to you because I expect you not to be a screw-up. Thanks to NPR radio, I am beginning to see what a foolish expectation that is.

(PS. The Mountain Goats are sweet. Bright Eyes was meh.)

1 comment:

  1. OH MY SOUL. The debt ceiling, ptth, sputtering mad. You've probably already seen this, but for posterity: http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us/

    I'm /THIS/ close to moving to Sweden.

    I almost wish we owed most of our debt to other countries instead of just ourselves, so that China could annex us or something. Drastic measures. [Not that different would be better, but the lunacy of the situation is just, ugh, maddening.]

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