American Economy Must Overcome Credit
Addiction
Over the past four weeks, each succeeding news show seemed to bring forth
one news item after another that would give one pause. Something, clearly, was
not normal. The something set off the inner alarm bells seemingly without
merit.
Was it because the Administration kept harping on "the good state of the
economy" even while its own elected leaders began crafting a three-month
extension to unemployment benefits because so many can't find work?
Was it because the seasonally-adjusted jobs reports were too good to be
true when compared to the constant bleats for help by the leading charities
because they were overwhelmed with aid requests?
Was it because the insipid budget deal co-sponsored by R-Paul Ryan and
D-Patty Murray accomplished nothing but hand over a blank check to the
government bureaucrats?
Was it the incredible outcry over the credit card hacking done at Target
where 40 million Americans had personal information compromised?
Or was it retailers candidly starting the post-Christmas sales in the
pre-Christmas time?
Sifting through the items, the alarms seemed loudest on Target's fiasco.
The rest faded into background static, blurring the essence of the Target
message.
Credit usage has become the No. 1 narcotic of the masses in America. It
wraps its coils around us subtly, luring us in with a warm, fuzzy welcome but
erodes the future as surely as the government's inability to not overspend. Like
a true addict we need rehab from the credit-induced euphoria and the Target
hackers proved the point.
To get a clear picture of the state of the economy--as opposed to the one
the government is pushing--and oppose the credit serpent's seduction, companies
and individuals should stop living on credit abuse and live with what they can
actually afford to pay for each accounting cycle...and demand the government do
the same.
Poll after poll taken during the year-end holiday marathon, demonstrate
Americans have lost faith in all aspects of their government. Time after time
the government offers official figures which can be proven to be mathematically
incorrect. Yet we continued to gorge merrily on credit in our "must-have"
mania.
Here's a chance to break that cycle. Simply stop using credit that cannot
be paid for by resources, earned or saved, during any cycle. Get your personal
economy budget in shape. Kick the credit habit. Then the Target deal would have
been moot. Hackers can't hack what is not there.
The government's rambling explanation of how this happened because we are
stuck with 20th century technology while the hackers are using 21st century
techniques won't matter if Americans chuck the addiction.
Government uses our credit addiction to further its own defense of why
it accrues debt. The Target hackers showed us the downside of the
addiction.
Credit keeps the economy afloat but it a fool's life. Simple math will tell
you the 295 million Americans of 2006 with an economy of $16.3 trillion (without
the knowledge factor) were much better off than 318 million Americans with a
$15.4 trillion GDP in 2013.
Stoppage of credit abuse will demonstrate the true state of the economy
more efficiently than any government produced figures and illuminate the ideals
of statism for the lies they truly are.
That is the white light shining through this Christmas season. That's the
star we ought to be listening to if we are Wise Men. America has this slim
opportunity to reverse course, get clean of the credit addiction and renew hope
for a better future. But we have to get rehabbed now. Target unwittingly
provided the perfect excuse.
"I have sworn on the altar of God eternal
hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."--Thomas
Jefferson
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