It's time for a reality check ...

It’s Tuesday

There’s something lost in all the discussion of tax hikes, tax holidays, sequestration, entitlements, quantitative easing, and the fiscal cliff.

As a nation, we’re broke. 

That’s a simple fact.  Democrats ignore that.  A lot of Republicans seem to be ignoring it, too.  The general population doesn’t seem to grasp it either.  Nobody wants to pay higher taxes, but everybody wants more and richer benefits.  You can’t have both.  You can’t keep pretending that everything’s going to be peachy-keen if we simply ignore the obvious.   

So I’ll repeat the obvious once again:  We’re broke.  We have no money.  We can’t afford to pay our current bills.  We keep sinking deeper in debt every day; we’re borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend.  We can’t even cover the interest payments on what we are borrowing. 

There's no new revenue coming in.  We’ve already robbed Social Security and replaced those funds with IOUs.  We’re kiting checks by printing more money.  Yet we keep spending like nothing’s wrong.  In fact, we keep increasing our spending every year and can’t find anything we’re willing to give up to staunch the flow of red ink. 

Who is running this show?  Wimpy?   We keep telling our creditors we’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today, but guess what – it’s Tuesday. 

And we have no way of paying.  We don’t have the money now.  Unless we drastically change things, we won’t have the money to pay our debts anytime in the near future.

That’s why I think my head’s going to explode every time I hear someone in Congress, or the Administration, talk about the need to preserve and expand entitlements while extending tax cuts.  Or how we need to front another round of stimulus money.  Or how we need to provide over $60 billion in funding to help those affected by Super Storm Sandy – and also include money to help Alaska fisheries .  Plus extend unemployment comp even further at the same time. 

Where is the money for all this going to come from? 

Higher taxes on the rich?  Nice political talking point, but that’s a drop in the bucket and everyone knows it.  At best that brings in $89 billion a year; nothing to sneeze at but not even a rounding error when you’re talking about increasing our debt by a trillion dollars or more each year. 

Somebody needs to stand up and tell everyone that this is insane.  No one – not even the United States of America – can continue on this path and survive.

While politicians blather on about what Americans want, and what Americans voted for, someone has to have the balls to tell Americans that you can’t always get what you want.

Personally, I’d like to have $100,000 a month – tax-free – deposited into my checking account for the rest of my life.  While we’re at it, I’d also like to have all my hair back.

Is that going to happen simply because I want it?  If I elect the right Representative, Senator or President, is that going to make it all happen?

Nope. 

I know those are unrealistic dreams.  However, a lot of Americans don’t understand that pulling a voting lever doesn’t grant anyone magic powers to fulfill their every wish either.   

The simple truth is we have to stop this nonsense.  We have to make cuts in social programs.  We have to trim back on entitlements.  We can’t afford to be patrons of the arts or every seemingly worthy cause that comes down the pike.  We can’t afford to spend billions to maintain vacant government buildings, or to waste even more billions on specious defense projects the Pentagon doesn’t even want.  We can’t afford to pay for projects in some elected official’s backyard to help them get re-elected. 

And even after we’ve made all those cuts, we’re all going to have to pay higher taxes either because we reduce or eliminate deductions, tax credits, and subsidies – for people and businesses alike – or through higher tax rates for everyone.  And yes, those who pay no Federal taxes now will have to pay something. 

Everybody’s got to chip in.  Nobody can be spared.  It’s a harsh reality, for certain. 

Unfortunately, I don’t see anyone in public office today who has the willpower, the courage, or the balls to tell the American public the truth.  Someone has to.  This can’t continue. 

Doing essentially nothing, or kicking the can down the road, is unacceptable.  Talking about how everyone can still have whatever they want, and keep whatever they have now, is ridiculous and insulting.  It may be politics as usual; that doesn’t make it right. 

Congress and the President know we don’t have any money.  We’re living on borrowed dollars and borrowed time before it all comes crashing down.  Why they keep avoiding the issue is unfathomable. 

Maybe we need to go over the fiscal cliff.  Maybe we need to refuse to raise the debt ceiling and watch our credit rating sink even lower. 

Maybe it will take the first time the Chinese decide to sit out one of our bond auctions.

Maybe when we see that no one is willing to loan our government more money it will finally sink in.  Or when inflation starts zooming up because we're printing too much money and everything now costs more, while wages remain stagnant, the light will go on.    

Only then will Americans understand the gravity of the problem.  We’re broke.  And things have to change.