The United States government’s debt ceiling is not a normal topic of discussion around the office water cooler, or anywhere else for that matter. It is an arbitrary dollar figure that represents a simple premise: we will borrow up to this amount of money.

If the average American family operated using a self-imposed debt ceiling we might see the following scenario.

With a take-home pay of $6,000 per month, the family plans its spending. Money will be set aside for groceries, dining out, automobile expenses, automobile insurance, homeowner or renter’s insurance, investment or savings, gifts (birthday, Christmas, etc.), vacations, utility costs, personal property taxes, real estate taxes, clothing, shelter and children’s education, among others. Oh, and each family member must have a cell phone, and they must have one or two computers. Cell phones and computers have monthly costs, also known as monthly debt.

As life progresses, the family wants to buy a home and each family member wants a car. How much of a home (size and cost) and what kind of cars will be determined. Usually these items are determined by want rather than need, and that usually means money must be borrowed to make the purchase. Borrowed money requires monthly principal and interest payments.

The decision is made to spend no more than 40% of take-home pay on monthly debt. This would include all those insurance policies and taxes mentioned above, utilities, computer and cell phone charges, and monthly payments for the house and cars. (continued below)

Then, things over which the family has no control begin to happen. Insurance rates and utility rates are increased. Perhaps the family chose an adjustable rate mortgage so they could buy a larger house for less up-front money and lower payments. After all, by the time the monthly payments increase working family members will have received pay raises at work. The raises did not materialize but the payment increase did. So, the decision to spend no more than 40% of take-home pay on monthly debt is raised to 45%.

One or two family members must have a credit card for emergency purposes in case the car breaks down on the road, or something. The cards might also be used for normal items as long as the full amount of charges is paid monthly. Now the family has added groceries, dining out and clothing purchases to their monthly debt and decided to raise the percentage of take-home pay from 45% to 55%, another $600.

One of the wage-earners is laid off, and the family is facing a serious financial situation. The $6,000 take-home drops to $4,000, $3,300 of which had already been set aside for monthly debt payments. A decision is made to stop paying the credit cards in full each month and carry a balance until the laid off worker finds a new job. The debt ceiling must be raised. The alternative would be defaulting on the debts which would mean possibly losing the house. Vacations and savings plans no longer appear in the family budget.

U. S. Government Crisis

The United States government, because of past congressional action, finds itself in a similar situation. They have raised the debt ceiling 75 times since 1962. Now there are members of Congress who say they will not vote to raise the ceiling. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he might vote for it if the retirement age for Social Security is raised to 70. Others want to tie their vote to spending cuts.

There is nothing wrong about making cuts in government spending, as long as they are true spending cuts. You see, the government borrowed money to begin a war in Afghanistan, then borrowed more money to fight a war in Iraq, then borrowed more money to reduce government revenue by giving tax cuts to everyone, then borrowed more money to provide prescription drug coverage through Medicare. And, of course, a financial crisis hit and more money was borrowed to prevent some major economic crashes.

Millions of Americans lost their jobs and the government lost more tax revenue because of it. Income is decreasing but the expenses are not going down. Yes, expenses must be cut. But, in order to protect the full faith and credit of the United States government, the debt ceiling must be raised. Simply put, expenses cannot be cut enough between now and March 31 to make a difference. The ceiling must still be raised.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that the Pentagon would cut its budget by $78 billion over the next five years and shrink the size of the Army and Marine Corps. What that means is that Pentagon spending will only increase slightly each year through 2014 and then remain effectively frozen in 2015 and 2016. In other words, this is a budget cut that does not reduce spending.

The military budget is about 20% of the entire government budget. For next year, the military budget will be $553 billion NOT counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One program being cut by Gates is $15 billion for a Marine Corps amphibious landing craft known as the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. I wonder how many amphibious landings are being done in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the military budget does include $30 billion for unexpected costs for fuel, health care and "other."

Another $70 billion of the military budget will be shifted to building other weapons systems, a new long-range bomber and a modernized Abrams tank. My question is this: could this not be delayed while America is facing a financial crisis? Of course, Republican Representative Howard P. McKeon of California said, "I will not stand idly by and watch the White House gut defense when Americans are deployed in harm’s way."

No, sadly, I’m not kidding. Do you now understand why America faces a crisis with its debt ceiling? As long as we have members of Congress like Rep. McKeon who don’t want to cut "vacations" in a time of financial crisis, you and I are in trouble.

You might also be interested in Understanding the Estate Tax.

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Dr. Jocelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the United States, favors the legalization of marijuana. She said, "I have been speaking out about it for a long time. I’m a member of the board of advisors of a medical marijuana group. To me, it’s not nearly as toxic for our bodies as tobacco or alcohol. It should be legalized. As far as we know, it doesn’t cause lung cancer, it doesn’t cause people to go out and drive drunk and commit crimes. If it helps reduce the nausea and vomiting and reduce leg cramps, make patients feel better, what’s wrong with that? We should make it available to people who need it. I feel if people want marijuana, they could get a prescription. Then we can tax it and know who is getting it. I don’t think it is a drug that is doing harm to this country. By arresting people, putting them in jail for crimes related to marijuana, we’re spending millions on drug enforcement and it causes more problems. Young people are convicted of a crime, they can’t get money to go to school, we have over 2 million prisoners a years and many related to drug use—it is a vicious cycle and one we created." (interview with Annette Fuentes posted online August 3, 2009)

Republican Congressman Mark Souder (yes, the same one who recently resigned for having an affair with one of his Congressional employees) authored a bill in 1998 that revoked student aid for any student caught possessing marijuana. By 2006, over 200,000 students had been denied aid. In February 2006, Congress softened the law so that it would affect only those who were convicted of possessing or selling drugs while they were in college and receiving aid.

Taxing Marijuana Sales

Imagine legal marijuana sales being taxed like cigarettes. The federal cigarette tax is a fraction over five cents per cigarette. While there is a large variance in state taxes on cigarettes, the average is about 50% higher than the federal tax. In other words, with an average tax of over twelve cents per joint, how much revenue could be raised in the United States?

Create Marijuana Jobs

What if the legalization applied to marijuana grown ONLY in the United States? There could be production and quality standards for U.S. grown marijuana. Do you think we might see marijuana farms? Marijuana production facilities? Jobs?

Refocus the War on Drugs

First, this would greatly reduce the demand for marijuana grown in other countries. Then we would simply increase the penalties for non-U.S. grown marijuana use and sales to something very prohibitive…very, very prohibitive. Exactly how much savings would eventually be generated for law enforcement agencies?

Other Sources of Information about Marijuana

NORML – Working to Reform Marijuana Laws

New Poll: 49% of Colorado Voters Support Taxing and Regulating Marijuana

NORML Blog

Washington, Wonkheads and Willy-Nilly politicians simply don’t get it. Americans are tired of do-nothing political parties. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party have failed to produce a government of the people, by the people and, especially, FOR THE PEOPLE.

The latest example: Americans are tired of deficits. We tried it using credit cards and got our ass burned by big banks. Now, we don’t really appreciate Washingtonians running around building higher and higher deficits by spending money we don’t have or cutting taxes for the richest among us.

Republican Jon Kyl and Democrat (DINO) Blanche Lincoln want to cut about $250 million in estate taxes for the richest Americans. This is $250 million more than what was done during the Bush Years. Now is not the time to cut these taxes.

It’s Time to Pay the Bills

We know that America has long had a deficit that must be paid sometime. We know that the Clinton Administration left office with a budget surplus (taking in more than was being spent). We know the Bush Administration ran wild by cutting taxes and spending billions of unfunded dollars. (continued below)

An unfunded dollar is like using a credit card when you don’t have the money and really don’t know how you’re going to pay the bill when it comes due. Perhaps it’s time to do something none of us really wants to do – Pay the Bill. It will help when the tax cut for the rich comes to an end later this year, but we don’t need Senators Kyl and Lincoln giving them another cut.

People quickly talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare. It would not be morally right to do that with so many people having made plans based on those programs being available. More importantly, there are a great number of people who have been forced into factoring those programs into their future because of personal tragedies in the financial industry.

As bad as it hurts our feelings, Congress needs to increase the Medicare withholding tax by at least one percent (1%). While they’re at it, they need to increase the FICA tax by one percent (1%) as well. For those of you making $500 per week, those taxes would cost you $10. Ten bucks to help stabilize Social Security and Medicare is not a bad deal, and it would reduce the burden on our children in the future.

It’s Time to Pay for the Unfunded War

Yes, it’s important to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to stem the flow of dollars, but we need to pay for what has already been spent. Let’s increase the severance tax on oil being taken from our reserves by corporations not incorporated in the United States. This would include all three of the ones involved in the Gulf Oil Spill: BP, Halliburton and Transocean. Oh, you thought only American companies were drilling in the Gulf?

Part Two of this would be termination of Halliburton contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They can’t, or won’t, tell us where the money is going, so stop giving it to them!!!

It’s time to end the tax benefits for companies sending American jobs overseas. This should be a no-brainer. After all, why is the government subsidizing the reduction of our tax base? Let me put this a bit more plainly. We are currently spending money to lower our income. Is there a school in America that teaches the value of increased expenses and reduced income? Those of you who are Capitalism Hawks ought to be jumping on this with both feet.

Hey Washington -

We’re tired of listening to you blame one another for getting nothing done. Either get it done, or come home. Oh, wait a minute – we’re going to take care of that for you, I hope. I took part in early voting the other day and, though I really did not plan it this way, I walked away not having voted for a single incumbent.

I do not belong to the Tea Party movement. I’m just a pissed off American citizen.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.