Erick, you articulated why John Boehner’s plan is a dud.  So what would you do?

There’s a big discussion on Capitol Hill, and all across this great nation, about whether or not Congress should raise the debt ceiling on our government.  Much weeping and gnashing of teeth.  I thought this analogy might help some people understand the situation.

Imagine if this was you.

A number of years ago, I got into a tight spot, financially.  So I paid my bills, using a credit card.  No big deal.  Well, things didn’t improve the next month so I did it again.  Instead of cutting my expenses, it was easier for me to keep paying by borrowing money.  I figured I’d pay the bill when it finally came due.  As the minimum payments began to increase I was having more trouble paying the payment.  Fortunately, an application came in the mail for another credit card.  Whew!  Just in time.

So I filled out the application and sent it in.  Luckily, I got the new credit card.  Now I could continue to pay my bills. But something else good happened.  My original credit card raised my credit limit.  Things were looking up!

A friend called me up and mentioned that she was struggling to pay her bills as well.  I gave her some money to help her out.    I just wanted to help her and didn’t want to see her suffer by having to tighten her belt and adjust her spending.   I just took a small cash advance from one of my credit cards.  It was just temporary.  I just had to get another credit card to make the payments on the other 2.

Well, this has been going on for a number of years now.  Right now , I have 2,349 credit cards.  It’s getting really hard to keep up with the payments.  I’m supporting 741 people through my credit card borrowing program.  The bad news is that the credit card companies won’t increase my credit limit.  They are telling me that I need to either increase my income substantially, or stop borrowing money.  Obviously, they don’t understand the benefits of my borrowing, and how it helps the economy.    Some people are clueless!

Don’t they realize the good I’m doing, helping all of these people pay for food, health care and LCD HD TVs?  These people deserve to have satellite TV service and chrome BBQ grills.  I have people that I support all over the world.

So I asked my family for some support.  You know, fill out a credit application and get a credit card (in their name) and send it to me so I could continue to borrow money to support all of these people. And you know what they said?  NO!  Can you believe it?  Absolutely no compassion whatsoever!  I thought they loved me.  Did I mention that they’re Republicans?

My father suggested that I get a job or two and begin to pay off the debt.    A Job?!  I guess he doesn’t know about the important work I do on Facebook keeping all my friends informed about important news of the day.  That, along with my extensive hummel collection from QVC.

My mother suggested that I cut my spending.  She said I should tell some of my friends that they’ll have to survive on their own.  She also suggested that I curtail my monthly European vacations and spend more time around here.  Can you imagine?  My brother said I could cut expenses by selling some of my cars and saving the monthly payments.  Really?!  Which one does he suggest?  The Bentley Continental GT?  The Ferraris (all of them)?  How about the Bugatti Verone?  HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE???????

So I’m not sure what to do.  I can’t stop spending money.  That’s just UNACCEPTABLE!!!!  The credit card companies are threatening me with legal action.

I even went to my uncle Joe, to see if I could borrow some money.  Joe has a business that installs and maintains computer networks for businesses.  He started it in his garage 15 years ago, working nights and weekends.  He has offices all over the Southeast now.  My sister said he’s a multimillionaire, although you’d never know it.  He drives a pickup truck and doesn’t even live in a gated community.

So I went over to Uncle Joe’s house to talk to him.  I told him my situation and you know what he said?  “Let me take a look at your budget.” Huh?  A budget?  Who has one of those?  As if!  He said my “problem” was that I had no “financial discipline”, whatever that is.  Bottomline, he was no help, AT ALL!

It’s not fair that I have all these money problems and this guy lives high on the hog.  They have a nice home (which is paid for), along with a car and a pick up truck (also paid for).  They take a nice vacation in their RV each year (paid for).  What gives them the right to have all that money and not give me any of it?

So here I sit.  I’m at home, typing this on my new laptop, watching the news.  President Obama wants to raise the debt ceiling and the Republicans want to cut spending.  Some kind of big argument.  What’s the deal with all this “cut spending” talk?  First my family, now the Republicans.  This guy, Paul Ryan.  He sounds JUST LIKE my Uncle Joe.

So, there you have it.

Congress has been spending money like crazy for all these years, but they’ve had to borrow money from Japan, China and Europe to do it.   Congress has been putting off showing fiscal restraint until now they have no choice.  And even now, many in Congress flatly refuse to consider cutting spending.  The Republicans are like “Uncle Joe”, except for this one thing.  Many Republicans are only now waking up to our budget problems.    It’s time that Congress lives the way the rest of us do:  If you can’t get the job done, we’ll replace you with someone who can.  Period.