Lee’s Summit, December 28, 2011 – Family budgeting is critical for the 2012 election. People all over the country are looking for ways to improve their own budget – some very aggressively, others quietly behind the scenes; but the fact is we all can spend more than we earn.
Last night I was talking to my brother-in-law and he showed me this budget and asked me what I thought:
| Annual Family Income: |
$21,700 |
| Money the family spent: |
$38,200 |
| New debt on the credit cards: |
$16,500 |
| Outstanding current balance on the Credit Cards: |
$142,710 |
| Total budget cuts made by the family: |
$385 |
Here was his question: What do you think needs to happen here?
I looked at the numbers and realized that with $142,710 in credit card debt they may as well file bankruptcy. They have put on credit cards more than 7 times their annual income. There is no way that they are going to be able to meet their budget requirements.
Instantly, I told him, they have to stop spending more than they make. How can you justify spending $38,200 a year when you only make $21,700? That’s over $16,000 deeper in debt every year.
Thinking about it a bit longer I asked: Are their some family issues like health care problems? He said, well there are some health issues; but part of the money they spend is to put away for retirement, but the rest is going into an insurance policy that will take care of health care; but that’s not starting till 2016. The extra income they are getting now; will go into expenses then.
I asked, do they think this is tenable?
His answer was; I don’t think anyone in their right mind would think spending that much more than you take in makes long term sense.
I looked at the last line; the total budget cuts. Are you serious? They only found $385 a year in cost reductions? Do they have cable TV? Do they have other spending habits that they can reduce? I mean look at it; if they work 2000 hours a year, they make just over $10 per hour. This is not a family that can afford many luxuries. I feel bad for them; but when things come down to it; in their situation they need to makes some very drastic cuts: I’d say at minimum they need to cut $16,500 for 2012 alone.
It hard, he said. Imagine all the things that they’d have to do without? There are other family members that count on their support. You can’t cut them off.
What is going to happen when the credit card companies come calling and want their money?
What’s going to happen to all the things that they think are impossible to do without then?
There needs to be a very significant overhaul of their budget. They need to find another job or two and they need to get very serious about cutting spending.
Then he gave me the rest of the story:
He told me he found it on Facebook and to put 8 zeros onto every number and what you are looking at is the condition of the United States of America.
| United States Tax revenue: |
$2,170,000,000,000 |
| Federal Budget: |
$3,820,000,000,000 |
| New debt: |
$1,650,000,000,000 |
| National debt: |
$14,271,000,000,000 |
| Recent Budget Cuts: |
$38,500,000,000 |
When you are getting ready to vote, take a close look at what the politicians are telling us they are going to do about the massive increases in spending over the last 3 years. One will tell us it was his predecessors fault and he’s trying to fix it; look at the fact that in 3 years he has spent more than his predecessor spent in 8 years: in fact he has spent more than every President combined since Ronald Reagan.
2012 must be the year where we start our path back to fiscal sanity. Government will continue to spend as long as politicians believe they can buy our votes. We must truly look into a Balanced Budget Amendment and make it the same in Washington as it is in the States of the Union. Each budget must be fully balanced, and growth will come from the growth of the country’s wealth; not borrowing from our future.
Vote wisely America.
Respectfully Submitted
The Lee’s Summit Conservative
