Monday, April 19, 2010

I.O.U.S.A. - A Review (and a rant about our priorities)

I.O.U.S.A. was actually released in 2008.  I don't think it attracted the attention it deserved.  If it had, maybe what was then a near 9 trillion dollar budget deficit wouldn't now be 13 trillion.  Of course, by 2008, the downward spiral was already well underway.

We don't save as Americans.  We spend.  And we will pay a heavy cost.  Our children, our grandchildren, and probably further down the line will pay a heavy cost.

I.O.U.S.A. was made to bring to the attention of Americans the seriousness of our unstable economy.  It highlights four areas of interest: Our budget deficit, Our saving deficit, Our trade deficit, and our leadership deficit.  With each area playing off the others, our economy is quickly falling into a situation that we won't be able to easily recover... if we can recover at all.

Being financially responsible is not something that Americans seem to understand or know how to do anymore.  I speak for myself too, as I have made mistakes in the past.  However, the hope is that once you make a mistake you learn from it and do your best to rectify it.  For the U.S. Government, it keeps making mistake after mistake.  The result is that we owe a lot of money and don't even have the production means to be competitive in the world.

I remember back when the housing market started to collapse, there were a lot of talk about how Americans bought more house than they could afford.  Right now, there is a lot of talk about people that are walking away from homes even if they can afford it because they don't want to pay for them.

I don't understand this sentiment.  I admit it.  My husband and I have struggled through the last couple years with some pretty tough financial times.  We have fought to keep our home through cut hours and unemployment.  It was scary more than once when we got behind.  My home is nothing to brag about either.  It is an very old home with, shall we say, a LOT of character.  We were gung-ho when we bought it about fixing it up and making it ours.  Now, we just want nothing else major to break or go wrong.  It's kind of a money pit.  It's located in a small town where there isn't anywhere to buy much.  We have one very overpriced gas station.  Yet, I feel like God has placed me here.  Every time I thought we might lose the house, we were able to keep it.  We bought it at a bad time, cause we got one of those adjustable rate mortgages, and were too naive to know better.  Every time we go to refinance, my husband loses hours or gets laid off from work.  Now, we are just hoping to build our credit up a bit so we can refinance.

Why am I fighting so hard for a house?  I've never had a home.  As a child I moved around a lot.  In my twenties I was a military wife, so I moved around.  It wasn't until a little over five years ago that I had something that I wasn't paying rent on, or rather, paying the mortgage for a landlord.  I may wish for lots of improvements on this place, but this place is the one place I have lived the longest since I was eleven years old.  I have raised my children here.  I've been through so much here, both good and bad.  If God moves me out, then it is in His hands.  If he wants me to stay, He'll help us stay.

I read that many people aren't fighting for their homes like they did before in previous economic hard times.  It is sad that our homes have no meaning beyond financial.  Yes, it is just wood and brick and materials.  However, it also stands for our spirit.  Have we lost our fight?  If things get tough, do we just bail?  Well, maybe we do in this day and age.  That would explain the divorce rate, the lack of fathers in their children's lives, the obesity rate, and the fact that most Americans have no savings whatsoever.  If something is difficult, give up or take the easy route. 

I don't think the easy route will be available for us much longer.  I think America has a severe wake up call coming fast.  A few have woken up with the economic struggles, but so many are still asleep.  It's like two different realities; the ones that have woken up to where we are and where we are headed, and the ones who are still living like tomorrow will be prosperous. I know I'm awake.  I trust God, but I know he won't bless greed and unwise stewardship.  He wants us to be smart about things.

Our whole way of life needs to change in many ways.  We need to be a country of savers again.  We need to take pride in our work.  We need to demand that our government make it difficult for our jobs to be shipped to other countries.  We need to stop thinking we have to buy a bunch of stuff to fill the whole in our lives and souls that used to be filled with God, family, and communities.  Families need to pull together to get out of debt.  We need to buy American products, even if the cost is higher, knowing that Americans will be employed because of that purchase.  (A challenge I know, since everything seems to be made in China.)

Grow a garden.  Have a store of food in a cellar or basement.  Make things from scratch.  Save money however you can.  Turn off lights you aren't using.  Don't live off of credit.  Try going to a cash basis for as much as you can.  No, it isn't always convenient to go into the gas station, ignore the impulse pop or chips, and pay cash for our gas.  It's much easier to swipe the debit or credit card.   However, cash is a bit more difficult to spend.  Giving cash is more concrete.  It becomes more than just numbers in a check book or on a statement when you hand over cash.

Our government won't change until we make them.  We won't make them until we have had enough of living in debt, in our own lives and in our country.  My fear is that we won't realize that we need to change even our own lives until our own lives hit a wall.  Recession is not a pretty word, but it is not taken very seriously.  The Great Depression, on the other hand, was more than a rough time for some people.  It was devastating.  When I hear we are well on our way to a repeat of that time in America and the world, I think most refuse to believe things are that bad.  Well, from what I've read, things are that bad.  A 13 trillion dollar deficit will need to be repaid eventually.  One day, we may have to change our name to the United States of China.

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