Last year, the United States generated $2.1 Trillion in revenue but had $3.5 Trillion in expenses. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that an operating loss of $1.4 Trillion? And the balance sheet of our country is in the hole to the tune of ($12.5) Trillion—the brackets are a negative number in case you’re wondering.
Oh, and it’s not going to get any better, anytime soon.
Meanwhile, these numbers exclude off-balance sheet liabilities (Social Security and Medicare) that would make Enron’s accountants proud, to say the least.
And the best part? The responsible people in this country can continue to eat crow by doing, what was at some point in history, the right thing: living within their means, paying taxes, keeping debt minimal, not using their homes as virtual ATM’s, etc.
The government continues to give breaks to almost any and every entity that has destroyed prudent financial principles (Banks, Homebuilders, Reckless Citizens), while throwing the hatchet at small businesses men, savers, etc.
Today, I saw my neighbor zoom off in her new Cadillac Escalade. I gave her a casual wave, and she muttered happily out the window that she was headed to the bank for a new home loan modification. She was more than two months delinquent on her mortgage payments (more like 8 months), and the new loan was going to forgive 30% of her principal since she was underwater by over 20%. She wasn’t underwater because she bought at the top of the market, she was underwater because she refinanced her home and used her equity to pay for fancy cars and clothes and trips and whatever else the money could buy. “Isn’t this great,” she said, as she screeched away?
My wife recently said to me, you know, it seems like if you just don’t pay any of your bills in this country you’ll be fine. She’s right. But I guess I’m an idiot and will keep paying our bills. I wouldn’t want my neighbor’s lifestyle to suffer.
