Mismanagement

Are we all tired of hearing about the government's credit default yet? I know I am. 

I am not an economist. I am not a CPA. I am not a banker. However, I never had much money and have had to get along as a single working person for the past 41 years in this economy. It hasn't been easy. I became financially independent in the great recession era of the 1970s, caused in part by a stupid war in Viet Nam. Now, 41 years later, I am working my budgetary pencil during yet another Great Recession. Two more wars are dragging on and dragging us down.

I pay my taxes. I pay my bills. When I had one, I never missed a mortgage payment. It was never easy. I haven't spent weeks on river cruises on the Rhine or Danube. I haven't wintered in Florida.  I've often had a small business to supplement my income from a full-time job. Yet I have never declared bankruptcy. I have never defaulted on my debts. 

My secret? It's easy. I haven't incurred debts I could not readily and realistically repay.

The Federal, state and municipal governments all hire economists, former bankers and CPAs to run things for them. Why can't all these geniuses manage things better? The answer is simple: Political corruption. 

In 2012, power-seekers will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads and Web advertising which very few Americans want to watch. The vendors of this advertising will continue their practice of brain-washing for cash with glee. They will disseminate questionable or misleading statistics. They will get more bad managers elected, based on candidates' photogenic profiles and bleached smiles.

As someone with a balanced budget, I resent paying taxes for these clowns to mismanage. However, I strongly believe every citizen must pay his/her share of the expense of civilization. The problem, in my opinion, is not an economic one. The problem is one of too much money in the political process and too little money being spent mindfully on the true needs of the people.