As 2013 quickly approaches, Americans set lofty New Year's resolutions. Commitments to better health, wealth, and success fill the charts. Stocking the pantries with organics from Whole Foods, saving (or investing) with vigor, and devoting extra effort to career (or personally) enhancing endeavors, Americans storm the "new year" with a sense of renewal and personal ownership. In the meantime President Obama cuts short a luxurious holiday getaway on Hawaii to assist the U.S. Congress and Senate in their Budget talks... hoping that the proverbial "fiscal cliff" can be averted.
What is a fiscal cliff? I sure hope it doesn't get in the way of my holiday vacation! Scour the internet and you will find generalities describing it as the conundrum the U.S. faces at the turn of 2012. Yet, more ambiguous solutions to solving the previously vague "cliff" may also be attached. Talks of tax hikes (or reductions), expenditure reductions (or increases), and legislative expirations (or enactments) confound popular media. Whatever the fiscal cliff is, it doesn't sound good.
Yet, I posture: who really cares? The popular news networks ring the buzzword "fiscal cliff" dozens of times during any given 1-hour news block. As if the public inherently understands what this enigmatic monetary problem is, politicians and pundits ring the buzzword again and again (as if it were self-explanatory)... sometimes interchanging (R) and (D) next to interviewees and "respectable" members of government to clarify the incredibly perturbable debate.
Before you hastily google "fiscal cliff", here's a news flash, America... the fiscal cliff has come and gone. Our chance to peek over the ledge and determine whether or not we appreciate the view has passed. In 2011, the United States' debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio exceeded 100% for the first time since our country's inception. In laymen's terms, this means that our country owes more to debt than its total market value assets. Simpler speaking... we owe more than we're worth.
The last U.S. federal balanced budget occurred in 2001. Since then, Legislators and Executors merely attempt to marginalize our annual deficit (not to be confused with debt). Annual deficits increase exponentially and add to our national debt... a national debt that currently surges past 16 trillion dollars (1 trillion dollars larger than our GDP in 2012). Unable to balance a federal budget in the last eleven years, the federal government propels the country's fiscal health into economic insolvency. I'm sorry, but the country's macroeconomic statistics seem more alarming than a tritely conceived "fiscal cliff".
Brass tax... the Federal government continues to grow annually at an alarming rate. The country's insatiable desire for Federal entitlement programs and paternalistic policies exponentiates the government's capital needs. A divided populace narrowly condones overt liberalizations of the U.S. constitution which appropriate greater federal powers (while stripping more civil liberties). With a decreasing number of tax payers invested in the federal system, an economic schism forms... a nearly 50-50 split divides citizens sustaining themselves on the government dole from those who must contribute to it. A population defined by decreasing family integrity, declining scholastic aptitude scores, and degrading physical health standards prove that the average American typically fails morally, mentally, and physically to take responsibility for himself. Victim to those who would usurp power from the weak-hearted, ignorant, or purely apathetic, America (today) faces much larger issues than a "fiscal cliff".
The country faces more than economic problems. Our fiscal woes reveal deep-seated character deficiencies... and a lack of real perspective. America did not fall off the fiscal cliff years ago, it base jumped... and is now accelerating to whatever ultimate fate awaits it at the bottom.
As you shed a few pounds of holiday weight and explore various new year's resolutions this weekend, consider packing a parachute for America's base jump off the fiscal cliff. Politics in 2013 expose more than a looming financial crisis. They reveal the proverbial "man in the mirror"... the image citizens see of themselves after they critically evaluate their individual impact on the American legacy. For those concerned about time, don't worry. Perspective is always clearer at terminal velocity.
What is a fiscal cliff? I sure hope it doesn't get in the way of my holiday vacation! Scour the internet and you will find generalities describing it as the conundrum the U.S. faces at the turn of 2012. Yet, more ambiguous solutions to solving the previously vague "cliff" may also be attached. Talks of tax hikes (or reductions), expenditure reductions (or increases), and legislative expirations (or enactments) confound popular media. Whatever the fiscal cliff is, it doesn't sound good.
Yet, I posture: who really cares? The popular news networks ring the buzzword "fiscal cliff" dozens of times during any given 1-hour news block. As if the public inherently understands what this enigmatic monetary problem is, politicians and pundits ring the buzzword again and again (as if it were self-explanatory)... sometimes interchanging (R) and (D) next to interviewees and "respectable" members of government to clarify the incredibly perturbable debate.
Before you hastily google "fiscal cliff", here's a news flash, America... the fiscal cliff has come and gone. Our chance to peek over the ledge and determine whether or not we appreciate the view has passed. In 2011, the United States' debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio exceeded 100% for the first time since our country's inception. In laymen's terms, this means that our country owes more to debt than its total market value assets. Simpler speaking... we owe more than we're worth.
The last U.S. federal balanced budget occurred in 2001. Since then, Legislators and Executors merely attempt to marginalize our annual deficit (not to be confused with debt). Annual deficits increase exponentially and add to our national debt... a national debt that currently surges past 16 trillion dollars (1 trillion dollars larger than our GDP in 2012). Unable to balance a federal budget in the last eleven years, the federal government propels the country's fiscal health into economic insolvency. I'm sorry, but the country's macroeconomic statistics seem more alarming than a tritely conceived "fiscal cliff".
Brass tax... the Federal government continues to grow annually at an alarming rate. The country's insatiable desire for Federal entitlement programs and paternalistic policies exponentiates the government's capital needs. A divided populace narrowly condones overt liberalizations of the U.S. constitution which appropriate greater federal powers (while stripping more civil liberties). With a decreasing number of tax payers invested in the federal system, an economic schism forms... a nearly 50-50 split divides citizens sustaining themselves on the government dole from those who must contribute to it. A population defined by decreasing family integrity, declining scholastic aptitude scores, and degrading physical health standards prove that the average American typically fails morally, mentally, and physically to take responsibility for himself. Victim to those who would usurp power from the weak-hearted, ignorant, or purely apathetic, America (today) faces much larger issues than a "fiscal cliff".
The country faces more than economic problems. Our fiscal woes reveal deep-seated character deficiencies... and a lack of real perspective. America did not fall off the fiscal cliff years ago, it base jumped... and is now accelerating to whatever ultimate fate awaits it at the bottom.
As you shed a few pounds of holiday weight and explore various new year's resolutions this weekend, consider packing a parachute for America's base jump off the fiscal cliff. Politics in 2013 expose more than a looming financial crisis. They reveal the proverbial "man in the mirror"... the image citizens see of themselves after they critically evaluate their individual impact on the American legacy. For those concerned about time, don't worry. Perspective is always clearer at terminal velocity.
So well stated that no comment can justly challenge or enhance your concise editorial on tragic consequences of collectivism and personal irresponsibility. Ayn Rand warned America of the fate of paternalistic liberalism more than 60 years ago.
ReplyDelete