We can't print our way out of debt
While listening to the experts in our nation's Capitol toss around phrases like "cutting spending, raising taxes, debt ceiling, holding the line, and stimulating the economy, etc." reminded me of a comedian convention. While these words and phrases are legitimate terminology, the perspectives by the President, some members of Congress, media editorialists giving their opinions makes one wonder whatever happened to common sense?
Common sense regarding personal or business finances says if you are out of money, you stop spending or you borrow money, if you qualify, with the hope that you will get a return on that money. If you don't, eventually you will be forced to shut down the business. If you have previously handled your money wisely and your banker is your ally, he may go the extra mile and loan you a little more money trusting he will get a return on his investment. If you handle the loan money unwisely he will cease to be your ally and often you become an enslaved debtor.
But wait - there is still hope! Frequently I get phone calls from telemarketers telling me that I qualify for stimulus money to bail me out and I don't have to repay it. If I were a selfish socialist I would jump for joy. However, the government is selective about who gets this money. Those who can afford expensive lobbyists stand a better chance of getting stimulus money. The question is - where does this money come from? It comes from you and me via the Federal Income Tax and China, of course. Our tax money has already been spent and we are financially enslaved to China. Can you imagine what our relationship with China will be like if we default on our repayments?
If we were to pay off our national debt every man, woman, and child would have to come up with approximately $47,000. Since this can't happen our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren have already lost their hope of financial freedom. We are having trouble paying the interest on our debt to China and several other countries. Our share of the national debt and interest on the debt does not include our personal debt.
By the way, these debt figures I just mentioned keep going up every day as the President with assistance from Congress just keeps raising the debt ceiling. Presently they are borrowing more than $4 billion a day. That is approximately three times what it costs to run the State of Idaho for one year. They tell us they are borrowing all this money because they care about us. They want to provide for all our needs. If they really cared about us they would do everything possible to get us out of financial bondage.
Most parents like to leave an inheritance to their children. Once in a while we hear of a situation where the children discover after the passing of their parents that they were left with considerable debt. They are not very happy. Yet our present administration wants to take more and more of our assets. The result is there is little or no inheritance left for our children.
Recently while discussing some of these issues with a friend he suggested that the government give every American an amount of money so we could all get out of debt and start over with a clean slate. While sharing this idea with another friend, it was suggested that the government just start printing money and give it to us. I responded by saying while they are in the printing mood they should print enough to pay our debt to China, India, and several other countries we are indebted to. However, economists tell us that printing new money causes inflation. Frankly, I don't think they can print money fast enough to keep up with the borrowing and inflation.
Perhaps Congress could pass a law that would allow all Americans to print their own money up to a designated amount, of course. The question is, how much should the designated amount be? Enough to pay ourselves a reasonable salary, maybe $100,000/year, maybe enough to pay off our personal debts including our mortgages. Better yet, it should include the $47,000 that is our portion of the Federal debt. Economists also tell us that when a large amount of money is printed, it loses its value. The plus side is we could just print the amount of money we need as needed. Albeit, it is necessary when deciding how much to print we take into consideration the fairness factor making sure everybody gets an equal amount. Fairness or not to keep up with inflation and valueless money, we would all have to work full-time operating our printing presses. Talk about job security!
Oh yeah! I forgot, there is the issue of where we get the printing presses. You say that is the government's responsibility to provide each of a us a printing press. Smells like socialism to me! What if the printer breaks down or runs out of ink? Suppose a few of us get tired of printing, see an opportunity, start a business selling ink and repairing printing presses. Sounds like Capitalism! You say, how absurd! Well, sometimes it takes a little absurdity to get our attention. Even the inventors of the Monopoly game who challenged us to think and invest wisely did not give us unlimited dollars to play with, nor did they give us a printer to print more money.
By the way, being the Capitalist I am, I have started a consulting business. For a fee I will be the go between, between you and the Federal Government to make sure you get a good reliable printing press.
Ron Vieselmeyer is a Coeur d'Alene resident.