Sorry, I Don’t Feel Your Pain

Credit: Philip Lange • Source: ThinkStock

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Look around you. Do you feel the pain? What pain you might ask? Why the pain of government of course. Don’t worry I don’t feel it either.

Did You Get A Bill?

We all know there is no free lunch. Other than the school lunch programs in our schools of course. But surely someone somewhere gets a bill for that. It’s just not us.

We are funding two wars. Have you gotten a bill for that? Neither have I but surely someone must have that sign on the desk that says, “The Buck Stops Here?”

Seventy thousand kids came across the border this past fall. They all need clothes, food, medical exams, education, housing, etc. Estimates for all that will run about $1,000 per kid per day. Did you get a bill for that? Me neither.

So Who Feels The Pain?

It seems like every time we turn around government is hemorrhaging money yet we feel no pain. Debt keeps piling up and everyone talks about it but when the time comes to pony up some dough congress takes out the credit card.

We don’t get a bill for war or kids or programs. Our taxes stay about the same unless our paycheck changes somehow.

So who really feels any pain? How can we evaluate what’s a worthy cause or not a worthy cause when none of them cause us any physical, psychological or monetary pain?

We don’t have to decide between feeding illegal immigrants, or financing two wars, or food stamps, or welfare. We can have them all as long as the credit card spending limit keeps getting increased by congress.

No harm no foul.

Some Final Thoughts

I wonder how cavalier we’d feel about government spending if we each got a bill for our “fair share” of that spending.

You might say, “Well we pay taxes!” But has your tax bill really changed all that much in recent years while the national debt had nearly doubled in the past 7 years?

If a bill showed up in the mail would we be screaming for an accounting of how our money is being spent? Would we want congress and our president to be a little more responsible with the funds allocated to them?

I would hope so. Something to think about.