"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means." ~Calvin Coolidge
"Good business or investment decisions will eventually produce quite satisfactory economic results, with no aid from leverage." ~Warren Buffett
Eliminating the National Debt will require shared courage from the electorate as well as rare courage from our elected officials. Decades of discussing the National Debt has done absolutely nothing to decrease its size or reduce its rate of growth. I propose that the newly-chosen Congressional Debt Committee could learn a thing or two from American consumers who--despite unemployment challenges and rapidly rising costs of necessities (i.e. food, gasoline)--have continued to reduce their dependence upon consumer credit. The communities we live in are tightening their own budgetary belts as municipalities are forced to make difficult decisions that potentially reduce public safety and/or the quality of recreational life in those communities.
In our communities we are faced daily with personal and professional choices regarding business infrastructure investments and expenditures. We must maintain our walk-in refrigeration units and industrial ovens in good working order. We must stock our restrooms with anti-bacterial soap and toilet paper. At home, our children require functional footwear and school supplies to return to school for the new term. While we may manage our business and personal finances through the responsible use of revolving credit, we do do knowing fully that the bill must be paid on time. Even the mortgage on our business site or our home requires a timely payment lest we forfeit our very location from which we operate or live.
Despite the vitriolic rhetoric across the political spectrum, the National Debt is not the sole responsibility or fault of one political party. Our nation has increased the size of the debt under Administrations and Congresses overseen by both major political parties. Even when the Budget has occasionally been balanced, the National Debt has not magically disappeared. Real National Debt Solutions do not derive from passive-aggressive behavior between political parties, factions within parties, or squabbles between branches of government. While financial woes are often cited as a primary cause of marital dissolution or bankruptcy, our nation cannot seek such similar options.
Instead, much as our families, our employees, our neighbors and our mayors have done with courage, our national leaders must step up their level of fiscal leadership and make difficult long-term decisions. Voters have an opportunity each election cycle to send the most qualified Representatives and Senators to Washington, D.C. and it is incumbent upon those elected leaders to put aside debts owed to special interests, opportunities for cable news soundbites, and ultimatum floor speeches and instead do what many day-to-day business owners and families have done: (1) starve the urge to spend beyond one's means; and (2) identify savings.
Professionally and personally, we know when it's time to put away the credit card. For those who cannot control their own debt accumulation, that urge is cured externally by creditors withdrawing existing (or refusing additional) credit privileges. Secondly, we seek savings to reduce our cash outlay, a process that is not without its own pain. Reducing less productive staff, eliminating accustomed perks, or closing unprofitable locations are among the value-added decisions that we must make to grow our businesses during challenging economic times. At home we may eat out less, change insurance carriers, or curtail a costly club membership.
Our national leaders must put their respective personal leadership credibility on the line without partisanship. Decide once and for all to spend within revenue receipts and identify and execute swiftly the savings that can be had from a close, unbiased examination of the federal expenditures. The courage to lead doesn't imply that one will remain popular enough to survive re-election, but the prospect of future electoral defeat shouldn't deter a leader from making fiscally responsible decisions.
Today, as an elected official, accept the mantle of fiscal leadership.
Today, as a voter, accept the obligation to elect committed fiscal leaders instead of partisan mouthpieces betrothed to special interest lobbyists.
Together, let us restore balance and fiscal pride to our communities, our states and our greatest nation on Earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment