U.S. government going from bad to worse

John Stossel, consumer reporter and investigative journalist, analyzed the budget of a hypothetical family, as follows: Family income, $24,700 per year; family spending, $37,900 per year; credit card charges, $13,300 per year; credit card balance, $153,500; latest budget tightening, $385.

Does it look like this family has its spending under control? Hardly. Any family that handles their finances this way is irresponsible. Yet, adding eight zeros to each of the above figures results in our country's current budgetary state of affairs.

These figures bring home the burden the American government has imposed on its people. They show how ineffective and absurd our government's latest “budget tightening” efforts have been. Presidential leadership is sorely needed to put our country's budget back in the black. So what is President Obama doing? In terms of this family's budget, he's proposed to increase family spending (the budget) by $2,000 per year for the next 10 years and to increase their credit card balance (the national debt) to $164,500. Last year the Senate defeated President Obama's budget plan by 97 to 0 - unsupported by a single Democrat. One can only hope that this year they will do the same.

So what's our hypothetical family's fate after 10 years? Unable to pay the interest needed to maintain their $164,500 debt, they are forced into bankruptcy.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Most bad government has grown out of too much government.” Clearly we are going from “bad” to worse.

Ron Lessman

Cedar Rapids