Our economic woes are not going to disappear over night even with the recent passage of the Bail Out Plan. I myself was sorely disappointed on the results because it seemed the majority of Americans were against it. Second because the House wouldn’t pass the original version but passed it with 150 billion dollars in pork barrel spending. Third I was not pleased with both presidential candidates that voted yes for it when all through their campaigns to date, they pledged to veto any ear marking and pork barrel spending. So much for them keeping their word. Typical of politicians – can’t believe them, their word is no good.
Apparently we have no voice with Congress which that alone could cause me to write for weeks without stopping. But what I want to really write about today is sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a word not often heard of any more. Three generations of Americans have lived a very good life – so to speak. We, through the use of credit have had everything we want available to us. If we want to survive this crisis we need to learn that it is going to require a great deal of sacrifice on our part.
Many articles I have read lately on AOL and Yahoo news have stated what is a waste of money for consumers. The real issue is that we believe almost everything is necessary because they are part of our lifestyle and habit. What everyone needs to concentrate on is paying their rent/mortgage, utilities, car payment, car insurance and food. Everything else is not necessary. Yes we like our cell phones but they cost a lot.
A friend was telling me how they could not keep up with their bills. I suggested getting rid of their cell phones. You would have thought I said cut off her right arm. Her excuse was I need to keep track of my kids. My response was that for 5,000 years people have been able to keep track of their children without cell phones. The point is we can make up so many excuses for our spending and by so doing we continue to keep ourselves in an economic bind.
It is up to everyone to decide but if we don’t start cutting back and saving we will bury ourselves. Sacrifice for the greater good. There are millions who are losing their homes and many more losing their jobs. Those I know don’t have one dime to cover themselves for the basic necessities. they will become literally homeless.
Another friend just received $1000.00 dollars and went out and bought her 10 year old daughter $700.00 worth of clothes. Now beleive me I know what the cost of clothers are but I honestly believe no 10 year old needs all that. To drive this point home she was the very one who just got her car out of the garage – it was there for six weeks because she didn’t have the money to pay for it. The cost of repair was over $1600.00. So she rode with my daughter to and from work for 6 weeks. My daughter drove 30 miles out of her way to do this for her. No lesson learned there!!!.
Some on the list of wasteful spending was paper towels, nail salons, purchases at convenience stores, baby wipes, disposable diapers, and clothes dryers. Without sacrifice somewhere we are in a world of hurt, especially with our debt load. Many products in the food category are still going to go up and it is predicted that home heating oil will be up 30% more this winter than last.
We all need to take this very seriously and really decide to give up eating out, fast food places, entertainment, cell phones, cable or what ever to make it. This new bail out plan may only be good in that you do not lose your job so you will most likely will have a cash flow but inflation is still on the rise. And the government bail out plan is not going to bail us out when we find it hard to pay for our needs let alone our wants.
Keep smiling God is still on His throne but we must also do our part.
Jm
You may also visit helium.com/users446975 to read other articles I have published on various topics.
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Economic crisis, government Bailout, Joe Biden, John McCain, Presidential Campaign, Sacrifice, Sara Palin, Surviving Economic bad times
