Both Oars In More Independence!

Jul 2, 2010

I realize that it is customary to make resolutions at New Years, but maybe we could start using July 4th as a day to make some promises as well. We could focus on personal declarations of independence aimed not only at living life better, but making our nation even freer. We could use each 4th to identify things that shackle us and our great nation and vow to throw them off.

To make our annual list, we could hold a personal tea party where we point the finger at ourselves! Before the fireworks and beer, we could sit down and reflect a bit on what is holding us back. We could take a moment to ask, “What is keeping us from being as free as we can be?”

I can think of four things right off the top of my head: debt, weight, overdependence on oil and oversized houses. 

How can we claim to be free as individuals or as a nation with the level of debt we are carrying? We are slaves to the bank and to the world. Did we throw off a tax-happy king just to subjugate ourselves to the whims of the Chinese government and MasterCard? You say, “No.” But, history may prove otherwise. Betting pools already exist for when the dollar will go bust on account of our addiction to borrowing.

We are in debt over our heads, let alone up to our neck. While credit card debt has declined over the past 18 months (one wonders how much of this is due to charge-offs by lenders vs. actual pay downs by card holders), overall personal consumer debt has increased to nearly 2.5 trillion dollars. That is equal to Italy’s national debt. Wow! Collectively we have personally as much debt as a G8 country!

We owe a lot as a nation, too. Uncle Sam’s credit card balance is just over 13 trillion dollars which is nearly 25% of the total national external debt of all the countries of the world. That adds about $43,000 per capita to our personal debt. Combining our own non real estate debt and Uncle Sam’s, we owe more than two years’ income based on an average per household income of $52,000.

We like to shake our finger at Uncle Sam for his debt. But all debt, private and public, is created the same way: by spending more money than we earn. A recent survey suggested that 43% of households followed the government in the spiral down practice of spending more than they earned last year. It is time we live within our means at home and in Washington. It is time to declare, “Debt free or Die!”

We are as increasingly burdened by weight as we are debt. Since the 1970’s, we have gotten fatter and fatter as a nation. [Note: high fructose corn syrup consumption took off then as well, especially among children.] It is as if the Statue of Liberty changed her tune to “…give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses and we will make them breathe hard and fat!”

We are no longer the home of the free, but of the fat. Two thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. The extra weight adds billions in avoidable costs to everything from healthcare to airline travel. I know I am 30 lbs over myself. It is time for me and the rest of you patriots to soldier up and declare war on the bulge.   

We are as careless with guzzling fossils fuels as we are soda. We consume more oil than any other country, even China! Our percentage of world oil consumption, much like our debt, is greatly disproportional to our size as a nation. Over 70% of our consumption of petroleum goes to transportation. We drive too much, too big and too often alone. We need to ride the bus to freedom, not drive! We all knew that oil was a big problem way before it was spilled in the Gulf. We need to free ourselves of the tyrannical automobile. It is time to sell our car, at least our second or third one, for our kingdom.

The McMansion needs to go, too. Houses have more than doubled in size while the average family size has nearly halved. The only thing that occupies three quarters of the rooms in most houses today is furniture. Afterall, how many square feet can a family of three and half use at a time? Used or not, the extra rooms still require heating and cooling. We need to save the trees, the electricity and the free open space.

Fortunately, we no longer have to worry about being oppressed by a tyrant thousands of miles away. We are a free nation! We have the freest market and most democratic of governments. But, to keep this freedom we need to keep in mind that freedom is not found as much in pursuit as it is in detachment.