Posted on April 24, 2011 by John

These are strange financial times, and they have a lot of us running scared. The crisis in Libya is certainly not going to help our economy, due to the fact that our government spent hundreds of millions on the campaign in the first day alone. This kind of irresponsible spending has got to stop, or else our children and grandchildren will ultimately be faced with an earth shattering financial crisis. These crises can be avoided, but only if we are able to implement truly firm “austerity measures,” a catch phrase that really just means being responsible. In our own lives, rampant debt and a lack of good fiscal policy leads to disgrace, bankruptcy, even homelessness. So why is it that people are willing to let the government waste our money inordinately? It’s a difficult question to answer, but I think it has much to do with the very way that we were raised. People are so used to accepting free government handouts that they can’t imagine any other way. I wish people had more faith in themselves, and in their own ability to achieve, instead of insisting the government is the only entity that can solve their problems adequately. Until we can discover this kind of positive engagement, and self-identity, our socialized societies are doomed to undergo endless cycles of boom and bust.