Paying Bills

“Animal Spirits” is the term Keynes used to describe consumer confidence. This term has been used loosely to describe the rise in the stock market values, but we need to examine what drives us to produce. A favorite parody of mine is “I owe, I owe, It’s off the Work I Go.” That describes our recognition that we need to pay our bills and our debts.

So the need to produce has something to do with our personal responsibility and our ability to support ourselves and our responsibility for not spending more than we can afford. The same motivation we have to be able to pay our bills as an individual is needed when we consider government spending and debt.

Venezuela is broke and its fate as a sovereign nation is in question.  We saw Greece miss the payments on its government debt and it had a damaging effect on its citizens. We saw Puerto Rico’s government overspend and it is the citizens that need to go to work and pull them out of debt.

The US National Debt is $20 trillion and its unfunded liabilities total $125 trillion.  Our elected officials in our federal government have created this problem, but we, as citizens need to get to work and demand that they reduce spending and begin to pay off the debt and reduce the unfunded liabilities.

This responsibility should motivate us to get to work on increasing productivity by increasing production and demanding that elected officials do their job. The federal government has taken on too much and needs to begin to comply with their own Constitution and get their financial house in order. Our State and local governments also need to prioritize, tighten their spending and eliminate borrowing. The US federal government should reduce its debt to $5 trillion and privatize 80% of its activities. State and local government should operate debt-free and convert its government pension plans into 401k Plans to eliminate unfunded liabilities. Families need to invest in single family homes and pay off their mortgages as soon as they can.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader