I am amazed at the current disconnect between the politicians in Washington and the people they serve. These are rare times. There have only been a few times in American history where leaders have so brazenly disregarded the will of the people and when this has happened things generally end in only one way. The slow but powerful stirrings of a Revolution.
Like a beach ball being forced further and further under water, the American people will only be pushed so far. Eventually the smattering of Tea Party protests over tax increases and occasional demonstrations in front of AIG executives homes over theft of their taxpayer money begin to build. Then at some point the anger and passion explodes into a crescendo of powerful revolt and the people that make up the heart and soul of this country take their country back.
Politicians are in some sort of surreal protective bubble where they have become completely tone deaf to what the American people want. The people intuitively know that the cause of this crisis was debt and greed. And the way they solve it is to pay off the debt and stop the greed. The American people are currently working hard to pay off their debt and build a mountain of savings to protect them in the future. We have gone from an unprecedented negative savings rate just one year ago to a 5% savings rate today. This is a radical change in behavior in a very short time. We are paying off our debt at a record pace. We are working on transforming our household budgets from a position of vulnerability, living from paycheck to paycheck, to a position of long-term strength.
Our country's budget is no different from our family budget. And the United States' balance sheet is in the same disrepair. Yet, the politicians are doing the exact opposite of what the American people intuitively know is the right way to respond to this crisis. In a futile attempt to "save the economy", politicians are actually borrowing and spending even more. And the reason for this? To try and get the economy going again by getting the American people to stop saving, spend even more, and go into further debt!
Think of it this way, you owe $200,000 on your home that is worth $300,000. You have just paid off all your credit cards and you are able to make your monthly payment on your home while saving 5% a month. You go to your financial advisor to find out if there is anything else you could be doing and he tells you to go to the local BMW dealer, max out all three of your credit cards and buy a $60,000 5-series to get the economy going. He then tells you to pull out the $100,000 of equity in your home and buy a second home for $300,000 to help get the housing market going. He advises this knowing that the value of the home is dropping every month and there is an overcapacity of homes in your area so there is little chance you will be able to rent it out to help pay the monthly mortgage. He says the more important thing is that you are doing your part to help the economy.
Have you helped the economy? Not a chance. Here's why. You just went from having a healthy balance sheet to creating an extraordinary amount of debt. In fact, you are now upside down because your monthly payments on the credit cards and two houses is $4000 a month and you only take home $3,000 a month. So nine months later you now owe $80,000 on your credit cards and both your homes are in foreclosure. What is the inevitable result? You are forced into bankruptcy, you lose both homes, and you are now a negative drag on the economy because you cannot pay back the money you borrowed. You destroyed your entire net worth and you stopped spending money completely. You just made the economy worse.
This is exactly what our government is doing to "save the economy". Throwing as much debt as possible at the problem in the vain attempt to save it. The additional problem is that as the debt of the United States grows the interest rates we pay on that debt will also rise. That is because practically every country in the world is borrowing money right now, the countries that lend money like China will demand higher interest rates for their loans. If we refuse to pay the higher rates, they will lend their money to another country that is willing to do so. In other words, we will be forced to do it. So the United States will lose more and more money each month while the "monthly payment" for all this debt increases every month as the interest rate rises. You can imagine what the end game will be. Just like the household example above, we will eventually drive the United States of America into bankruptcy. And if we allow this to happen, this country will never be the same again.
As "Thomas Payne" says in the now famous You Tube video, your "none representing representatives passed the largest spending bill in American history without reading it and you did nothing. You say no to using your money to bail out failed, corrupt and greedy businesses (like AIG) and they ignore you. You look to government to solve problems they have created in the first place. Force your legislators to do what you now have to do, live within your means. If you don't you are committing national suicide. Throw out of office every congressman and woman who didn't bother to read the biggest spending bill in history before voting for it. Wake up America, you have allowed yourselves to become little more than cowering spectators, watching the nation your grandparents built, the richest most powerful, most self-sufficient Republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation ever achieved, now in the middle of the greatest unprecedented decline in American History."
The opinion polls are clear.
We The People have said enough of the bailouts to greedy, corrupt companies that should have gone into bankruptcy. The politicians have ignored us.
We The People have said enough to the reckless spending in Washington. The politicians have ignored us.
We The People have said enough to increasing our country's debt a penny more. The politicians have ignored us.
We The People have said enough to the government that created Freddie Mac and Fannie May to allow corrupt banks to sell 50% of all their toxic mortgages to them, thereby using our money to drive the spiral of greed that led to the crisis. The politicians have ignored us.
We The People have said enough to the same government that "helped" the mortgage industry by creating Fannie and Freddie, now wants to "help" the health care industry by taking it over. The politicians have ignored us.
"We're mad as hell and we want our country back! Answer the call, get into the fight. It is a good time to be a patriot. The Second American Revolution has just begun."
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