Better Than Being Bailed-out

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I have to admit the current economic situation and the lines of people standing with their hands out are starting to get to me. I'm even getting on my soap box when commenting on *other people's* blogs! So I'll try not to go too crazy here, even though the lack of integrity and personal responsibility I see around me seriously makes my fingers itch. I've decided to try to just focus on preventive measures within my own family. Thus, Easton is learning how to pay bills! You write on the stub how much you are sending. . . then you carefully stuff it into an envelope. . . and begin affixing your stamps/stickers (at the age of two, these words are synonymous!) Apparently, this bill has to travel a long, long way! Taking personal responsibility feels good. It makes one beam with pride in a job well done, knowing you did it and you did it "all by yourself". It also gives you confidence to set more goals and tackle the next job. Would you believe the victim mentality people have in respect to debt? I've had a couple people use this line on me lately. Some people, you know, are just in debt because they don't know any better--no one taught them any differently. It's not THEIR FAULT they don't know how to keep a budget or deny instant gratification. And about the banks getting federal money? Well, that's a necessary step because a lot of people borrowed more money than they could afford for their houses and it's all the bankers' faults. Afterall, how can individuals be expected to assess their own financial situation and determine how much they can afford for a house and still be living within their means? If they bought 'too much of a house' for their income, well, it's not their fault. We can't attribute it to selfishness or greed or instant gratification or pride or any other character flaws. It's just the banker's fault, because he shouldn't have loaned me so much money when I couldn't afford the monthly (re)payment! With freedom comes responsibility. I think if we pay attention, we'll notice that as we Americans are shirking our personal responsibilities, we are progressively losing our freedoms. Will our children have the personal responsibility to regain the freedoms we are forfeiting, I wonder?