Both Oars In Time to pay the bill

Jul 15, 2011

There was a time when the tag baby boomer inspired awe in both the greatest generation, who worked so hard to make our lives better than theirs, and in the next generation, who until recently idolized us for our hip ways and our love of sports and music. But, that was before it became painfully apparent that my generation’s real addiction is to easy credit and that the Gatsby mansion is not only rented this time — it is in foreclosure.    

That was also before the national debate erupted over how to cover the looming cost of health care and a prolonged retirement for the largest generation to retire in mass ever. Somehow we expect Uncle Sam to pick up the tab even though we have never allowed our elected officials to properly fund these costs. It is ironic that we grew up hearing the story of the grasshopper and the ant — even read it nostalgically to our own children — but obviously failed to internalize it.

Now that boom is synonymous with bust, we, once society’s peacocks, are its albatrosses. No longer the envied, storied boomers, we are the debtor generation — the generation who, having squandered the labored fruits of the optimistic, but pragmatic generation that produced us, are now greedily eying the future earnings of our children. We may be a bit embarrassed by our past excess, but we are far from ready to end it.

On July 4th, I could not avoid thinking about how we no longer fight for Liberty; we just take them — especially with loan papers. Our leaders no longer shout inspiring battle cries calling for personal sacrifice for the good of all. Instead, they bicker with one another until the only achievable outcome is that no one loses out — at least not today. The most fanatic and myopic shout is for representation without taxes.

If it seems harsh to replace “largest” and “boomer” with debtor, take a look at the Debt Clock at www.usdebtclock.org. We are more than 14.5 trillion dollars in debt as a nation and 16 trillion dollars in debt privately. That amounts to a per capita debt of roughly $100,000 in debt. Just our consumer and credit card debt alone exceeds the government’s annual revenue by 50 percent. We are not just broke; we are broke and in debt.

Compounding our indebtedness is our nonexistent savings rate. We must think that we live in the Atacama Desert when it comes to rainy days given our inattentiveness to saving. In 2010, we completed a fourth year of sub-zero net savings. This hasn’t happened since the Great Depression — which is doubly depressing since it suggests we do not learn from history.       

If it seems unfair to use the word addiction and to blame our generation for the self-obsessed, consumption society we have spawned, consider that Facebook, Groupon and Twitter are companies respectively valued at $100, $30 and $8 billion dollars. These companies basically facilitate self-aggrandizing, social promiscuity, over-consumption and gossip. These are far from the values that our parents, whose collective investments built Ford, GE and Alcoa, instilled in our country.

Mr. President, it is time for you to speak louder and more clearly. It is not enough to merely whisper in an election-on-the-horizon muted voice that we must live within our means. You must boldly insist that we live within our earnings since borrowing has become the preferred means for living.  

Borrowing is not always bad, but borrowing for consumables and never paying it off is. It is time for the nation to adopt a pay-as-we-go policy for Social Security, welfare, Medicaid and national defense. Yes, the federal government may borrow billions to build needed infrastructure, such as a national electric grid, but it should not borrow even a dime for anything that is consumed immediately. Out of pocket expenses need to come out of our pockets.

The party is over. It is time to pay the bill so we can leave with honor.

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