U.S. Financial Insomnia

It is 12:30am.

In this hour, in the wee beginning of a random Tuesday, my Partner is sound asleep
and I should be right there with him. Not me, unfortunately. Being the civic-minded,
nerdy, political junkie that I am, has me seriously concerned over the looming United
States debt crisis. I am a 29-year old with a stable job, without a mortgage of my own,
holding down some credit card debt--and here I am worrying about the teens of trillions
of dollars that my government (and in effect, me) owes everybody else. At 12:34am.

The Secretary of the Treasury must take Ambien.

Where to start my rant about this mess? I find it appropriate to do what everyone else
does in times of crisis: it's time to find someone to blame. It seems like most people
are blaming Congress (in other news, the sky is blue.) For those who aren't blaming
Congress, they choose to fault President Obama (in other news, the Pope is Catholic.)
Well, I guess I will have to pick between those two monsters...wait, though. I think I
have found a different, destructive monster. And I'm sorry to point the finger, but I blame...

You (and Me.)

We got greedy, folks. We took on more than we could handle. We bought $200k houses
when we only had enough income to afford the $100k range. We spent away, thinking
that we could pay our debts sooner or later. Maybe those student loans would pay
themselves off with a high-paying job. Maybe that promotion would come. Perhaps the
stocks would get back to the way they were in the '90s, and maybe--just maybe--the
real estate market would start booming again. But sooner became later, and the money
never showed. And here we are. Yes, we. That includes those of you who want to get
"high and mighty" with me for saying such a thing, when you're one of those people
who doesn't have any credit card debt or owes anything. If you've exercised your right
to vote to send the same pork-barreling idiots to Congress who helped get us further
down the drain: you are accountable as well.

Now that I've lost my entire audience, I can safely say that I did what we Americans
have become famous for doing: blaming someone else. It is far easier to criticize and
blame than to offer solutions.

I have been researching this for weeks, people. And I can safely say that I cannot form
a decent solution because a) I agree with many different parts of existing solutions and
b) even after weeks of studying the problems, I, like so many other Americans, don't
quite get it. I 'get' that we're in debt. I 'get' the debt limit. I 'get' that revenue is good for
the bankrolls and that defaulting is bad. But the budget? Where and how much to cut?
Estimating how much we'll have next year? Forget it.

Here, however is what I know: we must address this problem--and we must address it
now. We must not allow politicization of such a sensitive issue bring down the financial
stability of our country--to keep our president from being reelected, or to make the GOP
look bad. I fear that this is going to happen. I fear that next week, we will default on our
obligations and that all sorts of problems will ensue. I'm not going to join the hyperactive
few who are claiming U.S. financial Armageddon, but we will have some major problems.

In a time where people are shouting and being nasty over an issue which hits a lot closer
to home than they want to admit, we must also remember to send strength, hopes for a
solution/compromise and/or prayers to those who are tackling this grave issue. And in
working to eliminate the national debt and overspending which has surrounded us so
harshly, we must also remember to work to eliminate these things--in ourselves.

I am going to bed now in the hopes that my country and I will wake up in the morning,
not to bacon and eggs (although it would be nice.)

I hope we awaken to a solution.