NATIONAL: You Can't Spend That!

********************

UPDATE 11/29/2012 - Just saw some numbers from Bob Brinker's Market Timer Newsletter. It noted on page 3 of the November 5, 2012 edition, that the HUGE imbalance between federal spending and federal revenue is UNsustainable. Federal Tax Revenue is 17.8% of GDP, while Federal Spending is 23.3% of GDP - that is a difference of 5.5% of GDP. Traditionally, like in the last 30 years or so, federal spending has been around 20% of GDP; that sounds like a good number to shoot for to me.

Every household KNOWS that you cannot continue to spend more than you take in - FOREVER. It has to end sometime, whether you choose to end it, or whether it ends in a crisis and ends of its own "natural" causes. The current so-called Fiscal Cliff impasses is a great opportunity to put fed expenses and revenue more in line with each other. Let's hope our leaders learn to compromise and accept some additional taxes in exchange for some substantial spending cuts. Yeah, right - that will happen - like the good ol' snowball in h*ll.

Note also (at the end of this post) my prediction that Obama would win another term in a close election; I put it in bold and large below so that you can find it.

********************

UPDATE: 8/23/2012 - Looking back to 2010, Obama's Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission put together a debt reduction plan that was all but ignored. It included many fiscal control items that both sides agreed to, but the plan was not acted upon. Irresponsible. If our national leaders do nothing to reform Medicare and other programs, it will go bankrupt and possibly bring down our economy. Senator Lieberman said in 2011: "We can't save Medicare as we know it. We can only save Medicare if we change it". Our political leaders have gone to great lengths to avoid dealing with the annual Federal Deficit of over $1,000,000,000,000 (that's $1 trillion) per year.

********************

ORIGINAL POST: I view government finances much like I view a family finances. You have to learn how to live within your means. If you spend more than the breadwinners bring in, you're going down - financially speaking. It should be the same with our Federal, State and Local governments. Even our President believes this, but the debt still keeps going up more than $1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion dollars) per year.

Traditionally, our Federal Government, over the last 30 or 40 years or so, has spent around 20% of America's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) - though sometimes a little less. Since Obama, that number has gone up to about 24 to 25% - money that we do not have and should not be spending. If your family did that, you would go bankrupt. If your income goes down (as it has with many), your family would have to find a way to cut back and live within your means - you cannot print money. But our Federal Government can and does. It must stop. Despite what you read and hear, this is the primary motivation of the Tea Party.

George Bush was almost as bad as Obama and similarly spent like the proverbial "drunken sailor". Americans foolishly do not re-elect politicians who tell them the truth (that they don't want to hear), especially when it requires tightening purse strings, cutting back, and getting our fiscal house in order. Instead of Obama telling us "You Didn't Build That", we should be telling him "You Can't Spend That". Here it is - an Obama rant that I can agree with:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

---Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Unfortunately, my projection is that Obama will win another tight election and remain in office, although the GOPs VP candidate Ryan may change that dynamic a bit (though I doubt it). We deserve the leaders that we elect, and I'm afraid the economic malaise that we are now in (low growth, high unemployment, ala Europe), which they are calling "the new normal", may stay around for awhile - and we will deserve it.

Fortunately for my family, the business we are in (employment law) benefits from the complex and irrational State and Federal employment laws. These policies drive employers nuts, and are so complicated that they are almost impossible to actually understand and comply with, should you be so inclined to spent immense amounts of hard-earned cash trying to do so. Honest, hard-working business owners employ our firm to help them comply with the employment laws that are just to complex for the average owner too understand, or they just don't have the hours necessary to invest in understanding them.