The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Americans are drowning in debt. We spend more money in the first 2 months of the year than all of China spends in an entire year...and remember, they have a population in the Billions!  Americans are behind on credit card payments, car payments and mortgages.  Borrowed funds in the U.S. now equal 138 percent of annual household income!   Who can stop the side?   The government?  Hillary Clinton?  John McCain?  How about none of the above?The job is left to YOU and ME to make smarter, rational, - financial decisions...and spend a little time looking under the hood of your own financial situation.  ( Sit down and do a household spending budget.)  I just updated mine this weekend and the clarity behind the exercise is enormous – it’s a great way to worry less about your spending.  Once your budget is in place - it’s easy to know how much you can and CAN’T spend. Now on to solving the problem!  First of all, Government intervention is always the worst possible solution to any problem.  Look at the airport security lines – government implemented roadblocks to your travel.  Since 9-11 there is absolutely no proof that airports and airplanes are any safer than before the government stepped in.  So government intervention is always a LAST resort to any problem. INSTEAD, AMERICA needs to have a Come to Jesus when it comes to basic financial planning.  That goes from learning how to get out of debt, to stay out of debt, - and to actually save something for retirement.  The consumer credit counseling service and the financial planning industry that I'm in, need to step up their effort to educate and help people manage the mess they have gotten themselves into.  BANKS do NOT want YOU to foreclose on your home.  Credit card companies do NOT want you to fall behind on your payments.  Consumers need to look to one of the non-profit services like the CCCS to figure out a budget and spending plan so that they can tackle their bills and eliminate debt that’s driving them into the gutter! Americans have to confront their own irresponsibility!  Please spend 20 minutes a week looking at a household budget!  OK, 20 minutes a Month will do!  EMBRACE a lifestyle that is within your means!  This CAN be done, and MUST be done, or the United States will continue to lose its place as a world economic power.  The reality is, the global economy – meaning the Europeans buying our stuff (because it’s cheap), and the Asians importing our goods- have, and will continue to pump money into the US.  As they do, they will keep growth here alive as we sort out our own problems in the next 6 to 12 months – and maybe, just maybe, - avoid a recession.The only fear we have of recession, is the fear of recession itself.Americans need to move forward, learn to spend less than they make, put 15% per year away in their 401k plans, and get ready for America to boom again!