Could you remind me again how we got into this financial mess? 

Was it not people spending money they did not have?

According to the AP:

For the current year, the government would borrow 46 cents for every dollar it takes to run the government under the administration's plan. In 2010, it would borrow 35 cents for every dollar spent.

By this calculation, if I were making $54,000, I would be spending $100,000 this year and borrowing $46,000.

President Obama may be the best president ever at presenting his views in the best possible light. It probably does not hurt that the liberal media never questions his spin.

Take his proposed budget of $3.1 trillion, the budget’s debt of $1.2 trillion (thus revenue of $1.9 trillion) and his recent announcement regarding $14 billion dollars in cuts in next year’s proposed budget.

When talking billions and trillions it is hard for most people to understand how these numbers relate. Thus, let’s do away with a few zeroes.

We could think of it this way.

Say I earned $19,000 per year, but was spending $31,000. 

To make up the difference between what I earned and what I spent, I borrow $12,000 from my children.

To show them that I am doing something to get my spending under control, I make the big announcement that I will be cutting $140 of my spending.

Think they would be impressed?

Okay, I will admit it, I am not a good American and while I do not want to speak for my wife, she isn’t either, so I will only comment for me when we would probably be more correct.

I (we) have been very blessed in many, many ways. I am sure many other Americans would say this so that does not make me a bad American.

First, what makes me not a good American is the mortgage on our house is much less than whatever the value may be in the current market. We have lived there for over ten years and have been offered numerous opportunities by financial institutions to take some of the equity out of our house. A few years ago we want to do a total gut remodeling of our kitchen. We thought we had enough money to pay for it, but wanted a cushion just in case. We discussed it and decided to take out a small equity loan, say $25,000. The bank offered us $250,000!

Now we did not take that money and buy icon cars (more on that it a bit), we did not take extra vacations, we did not buy all kinds of electronic gadgets.

Nope, we were bad Americans, we did not put ourselves into debt.

Then there are our cars, again we are bad Americans. Since I like to garden and tinker around the house, I got a big car, a Toyota Matrix, so I can shove all kinds of thing in the back. My wife has a Honda Fit. No gas guzzlers.

Then there are our credit cards. Even in these tight credit times, we keep getting unsolicited offers of credit cards. Yes, we do have balances on our credit cards, but nothing extraordinary. Again, bad, bad Americans.

Speaking only for myself, I did not do my part as an American to put myself so in debt that the government would have to bailout those corporations whom I cannot pay back.

Come to think of it, I am not only a bad American, I am a stupid America. I should have bought a big private plane. Then when I could not make the payment, may be the government would take over my debt.