American Politics and Money.

Ok Americans, in the words of Hancock, You are all idiots.

Im sure many of you don't qualify for this, but the majority of you do.

For some time now I've been advocating a massive overhaul of our system for the mere survival of our way of life. And nobody listened. Americans, like a large percentage of the world's population, don't get concerned until their pocketbooks are affected.

Here's some news folks, your pocketbooks have been in jeopardy for quite awhile now.
our national budget, I.E. all the money our federal government collects every year, is $2.5 trillion.
A pretty hefty sum.
However our federal Government OWES $10.4 trillion.
which means that for us to climb out of debt it would require us to shut down ALL government spending, everything up to and including firing all government employees, shutting down all government installations, and turning of the electricity and and running water in the white house, for four years and two months before we'd break even.

This isn't a new fact, the number used to be lower, but we've been in debt for decades.
Yet nobody bothered to pay off that debt.

Then over the last eight years we've had a spend-crazy executive branch of our government, that encouraged de-regulation of all business and even encouraged the public to spend money frivolously.

This is repeated history Americans.
1929 people did the same thing. We all know how that ended. In that time many people spent past their means and bought alot of things on credit, a similar function as today's mortgage loans.

So why is ANYONE surprised when it all came crashing down?

You want to know how to save the country and your personal economy?
This really shouldn't be this hard...
STOP SPENDING MONEY!!!

I swear, It's like Im talking to a country of over-eaters who can't seem to fathom that losing weight might involve putting down the fork.

But more specifically, there are alot of simple steps that Americans can follow to minimize the risk and damage they receive in this financial crisis.

1. Don't invest your money in Stocks. Put it in reliable banks. The stock market is an extremely risky venture currently, and banks need your liquid assets to be able to grant people loans. After the stock market crash all banks are required to be FDIC insured, so if you put money in the bank, even if the bank goes under, your money isn't gone. Please be aware that there is a limit of $250,000 per depositor, so don't go throwing ridiculous amounts of money into one account.

2. Don't "buy" a house. with the exception of old property passed down between generations, nobody ever owns a house within their lifetime. They rent a house from a bank. They pay rent to the bank in the form of a monthly Mortgage payment. Don't fall into this trap, unless you live in a rural area where houses are the standard and costs are low enough to justify the buy-in, these are a financial trap. Many urban people feel that it is the American dream to live in a house with a white picket fence in the suburbs. This is simply not the case. What the American dream doesn't show you is the crushing debt and hidden expenses to owning a house. I live in an apartment and Im not tied to it for any term longer than my lease. Homeowners cannot leave their home unless they can find another person willing to take on their debt. Furthermore, homeowners have to pay for their own repairs. You know what I do when something breaks in my apartment? I call my landlord. They fix it, and I don't pay for it. Because the terms of my paying rent and staying in my apartment are that everything works. If things stop working, that gives me reason to seek housing elsewhere. They want to keep me around paying rent, so they foot the cost of the repairs.

3. Don't waste money on unnecessary expenses. I know X-mas is coming and everyone wants to forget their troubles on elaborate and expensive gifts to cheer eachother up. Don't. Just buy something simple that you know they will like, or something they need. When I needed a new computer a few years ago, I told everyone that all I wanted for x-mas/birthday was money for a new computer. And low and behold, everyone chipped in $20-50 and I used that money to pay for a large portion of my new computer. It was easier for them, less time consuming, and overall cheaper than spending $20+ on me per event. And in the end I got something I needed and wanted, and everyone got the satisfaction of knowing their gift brought me happiness. It doesn't need to be that complicated, just try to get people ONE thing they want/need, rather than a dozen things they may or may not even care about.

4. Try to find cheap ways of spending your free time. I hate to say it, but now is not the time to be spending $50 on a meal and another $30 on two movie tickets, one soda, and one bag of popcorn. Just plan your dates more practically. Instead of going to an expensive restaurant try to find a relatively inexpensive but interesting restaurant. Pubs and ethnic food are often a good choice, as the food is different, the decor is interesting, and the price is right. Then just go to the movie. Don't buy sodas and popcorn. The sodas just make you need to pee and the popcorn soaked in that butter-like sludge just makes you break out. Instead of holding your popcorn, hold your date's hand.
Novel concept, I know.
Try to find group activities that don't involve spending money. Here's one. Play baseball once a week. Im sure you can find a park somewhere that you can play in, and everyone will actually enjoy the exercise and carefree experience.

America can pull through this economic crisis, It just requires everyone pulling their heads out of their own asses. We've had eight years of a tyrannical nutjob running the country, and nobody made a single motion to censure him, impeach him, nothing. Now everyone is freaking out over who the next person in the office will be, not realizing how much of a bloated mess that person will be inheriting.
It unfortunately will have to get worse before it gets better.
But it can get better.
You just have to show some concern BEFORE the shit hits the fan.
Just remember this visual folks:

If a person walks into a room with their hands full of shit, THAT should be your warning sign that it's time to leave, or stop them.
You shouldn't wait until they have thrown the shit at the ceiling fan and it comes raining down on top of you.

Not unless you want to be covered in shit anyways.