Budget madness

I'm sure nearly everyone has heard at least something about the budget battle going on here in the USA?  Well, at least I thought nearly everyone had..... until the last couple of days.  Can you believe that there are some who haven't heard a word about it?  I mentioned to a couple of my neighbors that I was a little worried that the government checks might not come out on time.  WHAT?!  WHAT?!  What are you talking about was the response from the neighbors.  Apparently they had been so busy watching movies on cable that they hadn't heard anything about the budget battle.  Good thing or bad thing? 

I guess it's all in how you look at it.  What's my opinion?  Well, I've always believed sometimes a child must fall before they know not to tip a chair backwards.  So what I say about the budget crisis is.......

LET IT HAPPEN, GO AHEAD AND DEFAULT, OR WHAT EVER ELSE WILL HAPPEN

because America needs a wake up call to reality.

Today's generation doesn't really think of consequences; they only think of ME and RIGHT NOW.  I think we all need a reminder of what debt really means to us and our daily living.

As a child that was born in a time when America was still suffering from food shortages and lingering ration stamps, I know how hard it can be to survive on very little.  Although I was too young to remember actually using ration stamps, my Grandma Mama and Grandpa Papa taught me the ways they lived during those hard times.  Just because the ration stamp programs ended, it didn't mean my grandparents would suddenly start spending like nothing else mattered.  They continued to live a frugal life until their death.    

Younger generations haven't a clue how very hard life "could" be.  When I was a child I was taught the value of hard work.  From an early age.... maybe 3 or 4.... I had chores to do everyday.  If the chores were not done I knew there would be consequences.  A stern look from my Grandma Mama was usually the thing that made me take notice of my actions.  As I grew older I never questioned that the chores became more frequent or more adult in nature.  If Grandma Mama said go beat the rugs.... I beat the rugs.  If Grandpa Papa said go milk the cows for him that day.... I went to milk the cows. 

I sat on my front porch a few days ago and happened to hear one of the neighbors tell her 8 year old to go pick up a piece of trash he had thrown on the ground.  His response was..... F*** you B***h, pick it up yourself.  So she did.  I know my Grandma Mama was holding her ears and nearly crying in heaven at such a sight.  I just felt very sad.  Sad that we have lost all control over the younger generations.  This was not the first time I've heard that woman's children curse and be disrespectful.  They are not the only family with children like that in my neighborhood.  Around here it's normal to act that way. 

Hard work was expected of me as a child because I was a part of the "family" and family meant business.  Hmm.... how to describe it?  The household was run like a business with every member being a part owner.  No business can be successful if only some of the workers do their work while the rest do nothing.  All money was put into the family business and each member had to ask for something they needed or wanted.  If I had to compare a tv show to the life I lived as a child it would be the Walton family. 

The tv show about the Walton family living in a rural area was very much like the life we lived.  The Waltons were never seen in a field with a mule and plow but I could imagine they did.  The Waltons were never shown with wash pots boiling in the yard or children gathering eggs from the hen house but the wash got done and the eggs got gathered.

Did you know that the same kind of budget battle talks happened to President Roosevelt?  He wanted to start the WPA work program and congress fought him about it.  He wanted to raise the debt limit and congress fought him on that too.    Yes, a whole lot of what is being seen in congress today is a repeat of things that happened back then.   Maybe President Obama should quote some of the history he claims to have studied?

So maybe it really is time to let the government default and get it over with.  No more childish arguments back and forth.  No more selling of votes in congress.  Let the younger generation learn it's lesson just like the generations before them learned their lessons.  Let people learn that debt really is slavery and begin to say we no longer want to be slaves to foreign countries. 

Ok, I'll get off my soap box now.