• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of
  the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget
for the fictitious Jones family.

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?

It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt  on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).

You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress. The root of the debt problem is that
the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent
there to bring home the bacon to their own home state.

To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders.

It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and
tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it
now.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The
problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money. Moreover, the
American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the
possibility of going into rehab.

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn’t hurt to read this several times.

Last Presidential election:
Number of States won by:   Obama: 19   McCain: 29
Square miles of land won by:   Obama: 580,000    McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:    Obama: 127 million  McCain: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:  Obama:13.2
McCain: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territoryMcCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.
Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income
tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…”
Olson believes the  United States  is now somewhere between the
“complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy,
with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached
the “governmental dependency” phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal’s – and they vote – then we can say goodbye to the USA  in fewer than five years.

Not going to be able to use one of my beach weeks. Have a 4 BR/3 bath oceanfront condo at Milepost 13.5 in Nags Head available for the week of Aug 5 – 12 or for the weekend of 5-6-7th. Contact me for details. Click here for a visual tour.

R.I.P. Hambone

Been an odd twelve months in that there have been some loses of some that I would call friends but more of the peripheral kind. Most fairly sudden, one with cancer. Dan Thomas was an interesting guy. Worked in marketing and was an avid golfer. He and I served on the country club board together. Dan was a little head strong and we had our share of differences of opinions. But I think we both respected each other and had the best interest of the club at heart. He was sharp of wit. Rick Santackus moved to the area to own a jewelry store. Nicknamed “The Hammer’ because of his golf style, Rick was fun to be around. Always so positive and a little bit of a charmer to the ladies. I guess when you sell jewelry you need that gift. Russ Palmore was a well respected attorney in Richmond. A brother to some friends, listened to them extol his exploits and successes. Was very involved in the church. Always a little mischeif in him but when it came time to fight the fight in the courts he left no stone unturned. Even came to me once asking about construction equipment (when I was in that industry) for a case. Only a couple years older than me. This past week Catherine Williams was in a tragic accident. Only 37, same age as my oldest son. She was a delightful, attractive young lady that was a former neighbor. Always called me ‘Sir’. Never could break her of that. She was raised to be a lady and she was.  Had been through a lot in the past year. Leaves behind a young daughter. All these folks went too early but they all were a small part of a lot of people’s lives and a big part of the lives of their families. They are missed in many ways.

I used to read the Sports Pages and the Comics, now its the Obits I turn to. Its like the news and comics combined. While it does sound morbid I check their ages first, where they live second, and third if I know them. The ones I have known I try to remember the interesting things about them and how they impacted my life. The fourth thing I check is their nicknames. That’s the comedy. More on that later.