Solutions for Reducing the National Debt
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Last August, there was a lot of buzz about the film “I.O.U.S.A.” and I wrote about it for Cabot Wealth Advisory. (Click here to read the full issue: http://www.cabot.net/Issues/CWA/Archives/2008/08/Pieces-of-the-Deficit-Pie.aspx) At the time, the U.S. national debt looked pretty bad, but this was before we had failed banks, a stock market crash and a long string of government bailouts.
This week brought the prediction of a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion, which is more than the total of all previous deficits since the United States’ founding. The White House went on to say that by the next decade’s end, the national debt would equal three-quarters of the entire U.S. economy.
I don’t know about you, but I find that pretty scary.
According to the Treasury Department, which has a neat Debt to the Penny Calculator on its Web site, the current debt held by the public is more than $7 trillion and the intragovernmental holdings debt is more than $4 trillion, bringing the total to over $11 trillion.
Did you get all of that? It’s a lot to process, but the basic idea here is that the U.S. is buried in debt.
Also this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget said that President Obama would have to struggle to meet his vow of cutting the deficit in half in 2013. This was a promise that earlier budget projections suggested he could easily accomplish.
One of the president’s economic advisers was quoted as saying, “This recession was simply worse than the information that we and other forecasters had back in last fall and early this winter.”
Well, that’s no news flash. And while the president didn’t cause our recession or much of our mountain of debt, he’s the one who has to deal with it. So I’ve come up with some solutions for how the U.S. government can alleviate some of our deficit:
**Instead of holding the usual White House Easter Egg Hunt, have the kids comb the nearest park for lost coins, bills and other valuables.
**Instead of wasting paper by printing out the huge budget books this year, open a Twitter account and Tweet the highlights.
**Use bulletproof, dark-tinted Toyota Priuses to get around instead of the usual large, gas-guzzling SUVs.
**Instead of allowing each state to bring home so much pork, give them each one slice of bacon.
**Rent out extra rooms in the White House to overnight guests. You could charge a pretty penny for a night’s stay in the Lincoln Bedroom!
**Charge admission at each U.S. border. Children younger than five are free.
**Set up a photo booth to get your picture taken with Bo the Dog.
**Open Area 51 as a museum.
**Organize the world’s largest bake sale on the National Mall with Sasha and Malia manning the lemonade stand.
It’s fun to think of these silly solutions, but I hope the people in Washington are thinking of some serious ones. The federal debt is out of control and getting even more so. The recession has taught the average American some hard lessons about not overspending, saving more and investing for the future and it’s about time that the U.S. government learned those lessons, too.
What are your solutions for how the U.S. government can reduce its national debt? Send them to me by email or comment on our blog, http://www.iconoclast-investor.com
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In case you didn’t get a chance to read all the issues of Cabot Wealth Advisory this week and want to catch up on any investing and stock tips you might have missed, I have links below to each issue.
Cabot Wealth Advisory 9/24/09 - Food for Thought
On Monday, J. Royden Ward wrote about what he learned about healthy eating from his mother and son. Roy even found a company that takes healthy eating very seriously and has a healthy balance sheet to prove it. Featured stock: Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).
http://www.cabot.net/Issues/CWA/Archives/2009/08/Food-for-Thought.aspx
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Cabot Wealth Advisory 9/27/09 - What Golf Teaches Us About Investing
On Thursday, Paul Goodwin wrote about what the game of golf can teach us about investing and why it’s important to get professional help in both cases. Paul wrote about a specialty kitchen store that got a big boost from its recent earnings report. Featured stock: Williams-Sonoma (WSM).
http://www.cabot.net/Issues/CWA/Archives/2009/08/Golf-Investing-Lessons.aspx
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Until next time,
Elyse Andrews
Editor of Cabot Wealth Advisory
Editor’s Note: Earlier this week, you heard from Cabot Top Ten Report Editor Michael Cintolo when he told you the following: “The stock market has bottomed and a new bull market has begun. And that means you should be buying stocks now!” No one can ever be sure what’s ahead in the stock market, but with the right tools, you can put the odds heavily in your favor. At Cabot, we’ve been refining these tools for nearly 40 years ... isn’t it about time you took advantage of them? Click below to get started with Cabot Top Ten Report today!
http://www.cabot.net/info/ctt/cttjb05.aspx?source=wc01
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