2008 Woodie Awards
Op/Ed: The U.S. has billions in debt, what's a little more?
Rachel E. DeForrest
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Husky Voices
I'm so happy to see that the Democrats and the Republicans can finally work together on something. Too bad that "something" involves spending more money that we don't have.
The $150 billion - that's billion with a 'b' - economic stimulus package that they've come up with is not only wrong but will prove to be ineffective. The problem with our economy is that Americans have been spending too much. We buy HDTVs, cars and McMansions that we can't afford, take on more and more credit card debt, use payday loans, and sign mortgages with insane terms on houses that have falsely inflated values.
Our wonderful elected representatives have been doing the same thing: "Hey, let's build a new 520 bridge and figure out how to pay for it later." Last time I checked our national debt is almost at $9.2 trillion dollars, according to many sources, like treasurydirect.gov. Only about $1.43 billion dollars per day. So, to make things better, our "intelligent" elected representatives propose to tack on another $150 billion dollars.
They propose to send checks out to taxpayers making less than $75,000, and there's talk of tacking on a mortgage bailout and unemployment benefits expansion. So let's reward all those people who made the poor decision of buying into a mortgage they couldn't afford. That should have a terrific impact on our economy. It's the kind of irresponsible spending habits that got us here in the first place.
Granted, I've had my bouts of guilty pleasure and have spent way too much money, but that was my burden to bear. Now, U.S. citizens are spending less. I wonder why.
Could it be that gas prices are close to or even over $3 a gallon? Or that credit card companies wait for one late payment to increase interest rates to 25 percent? Even housing costs have increased. And some wonder why many families have two working parents.
Let's break it down even further: A gallon of milk is over $2.50, and we should be so lucky to find a sale where it's under $1.99.
The $150 billion - that's billion with a 'b' - economic stimulus package that they've come up with is not only wrong but will prove to be ineffective. The problem with our economy is that Americans have been spending too much. We buy HDTVs, cars and McMansions that we can't afford, take on more and more credit card debt, use payday loans, and sign mortgages with insane terms on houses that have falsely inflated values.
Our wonderful elected representatives have been doing the same thing: "Hey, let's build a new 520 bridge and figure out how to pay for it later." Last time I checked our national debt is almost at $9.2 trillion dollars, according to many sources, like treasurydirect.gov. Only about $1.43 billion dollars per day. So, to make things better, our "intelligent" elected representatives propose to tack on another $150 billion dollars.
They propose to send checks out to taxpayers making less than $75,000, and there's talk of tacking on a mortgage bailout and unemployment benefits expansion. So let's reward all those people who made the poor decision of buying into a mortgage they couldn't afford. That should have a terrific impact on our economy. It's the kind of irresponsible spending habits that got us here in the first place.
Granted, I've had my bouts of guilty pleasure and have spent way too much money, but that was my burden to bear. Now, U.S. citizens are spending less. I wonder why.
Could it be that gas prices are close to or even over $3 a gallon? Or that credit card companies wait for one late payment to increase interest rates to 25 percent? Even housing costs have increased. And some wonder why many families have two working parents.
Let's break it down even further: A gallon of milk is over $2.50, and we should be so lucky to find a sale where it's under $1.99.
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