New Seniors

The Federal Government’s budget will be the highest in history, topping $3.8 trillion, while the deficit for this year is pegged at $1.6 trillion for the fiscal year starting in July, 2010.  That’s a long way from where these numbers were 50 years ago when most pre-boomers were in the workforce, or would be soon.  In 1960 the budget was $92.2 billion and nearly balanced.  What went wrong?

Image by via Flickr

Those of us born between 1930 and 1945 are part of a generation that learned how to control our family budgets over the years, and many of us were responsible for business budgets as well.  It never occurred to us to borrow money to run our household or a company knowing we could never pay it back.  Back then, credit cards were just getting started.  American Express was introduced in the ‘60s and those qualifying for the card had to pay the balance at the end of each monthly billing period.  It wasn’t until the ‘70s, when Visa and MasterCard came on the scene and allowed consumers to build a balance and pay finance charges for the unpaid amounts on their accounts.

Making it easy to spend money is never considered an excuse for spending more than a person can afford to pay back.  Yet, we have been educated – maybe propagandized is a more appropriate word – to believe this is the way government works.  That’s why the national debt is $13 trillion.  Image if your personal budget had to pay a third or more of every dollar taken in for interest on the things you bought in the past but had yet to pay for them.  Well, this is how our government handles the monies we entrust to them.

The proposed budget freeze only slows down the out-of-control spending in selectively, because most of the budget is committed and not discretionary.  It does not address the problem of throwing good money after bad, because once the feds get their hands on our tax dollars they feel compelled to find something to spend it on, or worse yet create new programs requiring more funding.  Government is addicted to spending our money.

If the New Seniors don’t want to pass this debt on to our children and grandchildren, then we must be sure our voices of protest are heard.  We did this in opposition to the government takeover of health care.  Our generation showed concern early on and kept the momentum going throughout the year.  Now we should be looking for candidates in the upcoming elections who understand our needs and are willing to listen to us.   Why, then, can’t we insist on having our elected representatives be fiscally responsible?

Sitting back is not an option.  This country has been good to us.  We believe in what it stands for and want those generations following us to have the opportunities we had.   If that’s not reason enough to get involved, consider the possibility of tax increases, inflation or both.  Those retirement investments we worked so hard for are worth less than before, yet the gains may be taxed at a higher rate.  At the same time, increases in Social Security benefits are on hold and Medicare is slated to be slashed.  If these situations aren’t enough to get you moving, then nothing will.  Come on, join in the fight for what’s right.

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