Bail Out Blunder

Circumstances make life difficult.  Be it traffic on the highway making you late for work or budgeting your paycheck to survive daily life, Generation Y is now at the stage in our life when it is time to take on these responsibilities.  However, Generation Y now has a little bit more on our plate.  With the financial crisis on every American’s mind, we as young adults need to begin thinking about the consequences of our nation’s debts and how it will affect us.  The main source is over spending.

Americans cause America’s debt.  We as a nation are reckless in spending money we do not have.  I believe Americans have the mindset of, “I will get paid this Friday, it is okay to buy the new High Definition, Flat Screen television.”  We put ourselves in a situation where we have used the money we need to survive and spend it on frivolous junk. 

This may also be the due to the fact that it is easy for almost anyone to have a credit card.  It is accessible spending, just swipe your card and pay for your purchase later.  After using that card for your new television, groceries, telephone bill, water, electric and perhaps even your daily medications, your credit card bill is sky high and you do not have the means to pay it off. 

Only now are we facing the consequences of careless spending.  People in debt would go to a bank and get a loan to relieve their debt to the credit card companies.  This seems like passing the buck.  The spenders are free from credit card debt, but now owe banks the same amount of money.  To add on to the money borrowed from banks, interest is owed.  Not only are people carelessly spending money on items they cannot afford, our nations banks are giving money to people who are stuck in a rut. 

People are creatures of habit.  If a person is used to the lush lifestyle their credit cards provided, it will be hard for them to break out of the cycle.  In turn, they have a hard time paying back their debts to the banks.  Now, not only are the American people up to their necks in money owed, banks are in the same boat.  The only place left to turn is our government.

The United States government takes the load of debt on its shoulders, but were does the money come from, other countries.  It is devastating to know that we are now depending on other countries to survive our economic crisis.  The money the United States uses to bail out banks and businesses has to come from somewhere.  It is not reasonable for the production of dollar bills to go up, because the value of our dollar would rapidly decrease.

Our nation has bailed us out, at our own expense, and Generation Y is going to have to deal with paying back the debt our parents have put us in.  The only solution seen is to increase government taxes.

A bail out tax would not be such a bad idea.  You see, the teens’ and twenties’ of the United States are almost oblivious to how much money the government already takes from their paychecks in the first place.  What would be another two percent taken from the already fifteen percent in social security?  It would take quite a few years, but at least it would be making a dent in the piled up debt.

This is not to say that a bail out tax would be the only route to go.  I believe it would be easier on the economy to set a credit card limit, not speaking of a $2,000 limit on the card.  Perhaps if there was an act declaring it illegal to have more than two credit cards.  This would virtually eliminate a good chunk of the debt the people of this nation have gotten themselves into.  It seems ridiculous that a person can have the ability to max out five credit cards.

Over spending is the downfall of our country.  The people of our country have carelessly spent money they do not have.  We now depend on our government to bail us out, yet it is a cycle.  The government bails us out, the government is in debt, we bail the government out through taxes and other sources and so on.  I do not know if I can believe this nation will be completely debt free but at very least, we need to try and pull ourselves out of this rut.