Lesson 1 for Leaders and Lemmings: How to Manage Money

A comment written to our leaders and lemmings in response to this at http://www.patdollard.com/.

Dear Congress, POTUS, and #OWS folks,
I bought a recliner Saturday. I bought it on sale, but that was a happy accident. To buy the recliner, I needed money. I could have used the money from my paycheck (about $30K per year), the money in my savings account, or a store credit card. Of course, I need things like food, clothing, and shelter, so I must keep money for those expenses.

The store expected me to give them money in exchange for the recliner I carried home with me. If I use credit, then the store knows that it will get the price it asked AND bonus money for allowing me to take extra time to pay money for the recliner I wanted. If I want something that I don't have money in any account, and I choose not to buy on credit, I can either wait to purchase the recliner after I've saved money, or get another job to pay for the item. It is illegal for me to simply print money and use it for the recliner, or the other bills, or for donations to church/charity.

The government should work the same way. If the government wants to give money to (insert country here), then it should check the accounts for amount of money available, check for bills coming due, consider unexpected expenses, and then decide to give or not. If the government wants to give money to a person because of children in the house, lost jobs, or medical expenses, or if the government wants to care for the soldiers here and abroad, it should take care of those commitments first before spending more. If the money to be given to (insert country here) is more important than lost-job spending, then you stop spending on lost-jobs and start spending the money for (insert country here).

Money doesn't grow on trees, dear leaders and lemmings, and once borrowed, it cannot simply be made to vanish. I don't need to borrow money from others to buy 28 recliners; one is sufficient. I don't need to give money to every charity that asks because the need is great; if I give away all my money instead of paying my rent, I will soon be in need of taking charity from others. Who will give to charity then? If I borrow money for one recliner, and decide it's the wrong color, shape and size, I either make do or sell it to a friend; I don't blame the cashier who sold me the recliner, and I don't demand that the store refund my purchase price.

I paid cash for the recliner. It's comfy and it's mine. World Vision still gets monthly support for a kid, my student loan still gets repaid, and my fridge has food for a few more weeks. I do my best not to live "paycheck to paycheck" but I for sure don't live beyond my means. The government cannot live beyond its means either. That's irresponsible. Those like the #OWS lemmings who insist the government should care for them are as irresponsible and immature as those in charge.

Sincerely,
An American citizen