Does the government have unlimited funds?

According to Andrew Taylor, an Associated Press writer, “The government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year, exploding the record federal deficit past $1.8 trillion under new White House estimates.” These numbers are so big, that the average American cannot even comprehend how much money this really is, wow!

According to this article, part of this increase in national debt is to pay for bail outs and additional government aide due to the current recession. I thought one of the reasons that we were in this recession in the first place was because Americans were borrowing money they could not and did not pay back. If it does not work for the people, will this work for the government? Even if only for a short time, this “plan” for spending twice as much as you make would surely not work and did not work as the borrower would soon be borrowing and paying back at the same time. This would add up to serious trouble over time.

Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, stated, “The president…understands the critical importance of fiscal discipline.” I would have to disagree! My definition of fiscal discipline is being frugal with your money, limited in the first place and not spending more money than you have if you know that it will be a challenge to pay borrowed money back. Does this seem fair to the tax-paying Americans who are truly cutting back to live through this recession – by choosing food over a night at the movie, gas over a day at the amusement park. No, this does not seem fair! I understand that we cannot let people go hungry in this country, but are taxpayers ultimately responsible for people, like our government, who simply spend too much money for the income they receive?

Taxpayers, of course, will be responsible for eventually paying these high government debts back. I am sure that many people are not happy about, in addition to having to cut back now, having to cut back again when the bill becomes due for these loans in the form of new and/or increased taxes. I know I am not.