Let us meet the American family. Mom is concerned with everyone paying in to cover expenses, Dad wants to make sure that all the children are given the money they need for whatever they want, and their children are a motley assortment of ages and beliefs. Each week the members of the family to pitch in to the family funds, and each week the fights begin. The children are asking for money for lunch, gas, sleepovers, movies, medicine, and so forth. Mom very carefully listens to each child, and gives them the bare minimum they need for the purchases that she deems important. Dad very carefully listens to each child, and gives them the money they asked for, plus a little extra to make sure they get the best quality of thing they are going to purchase. When Mom and Dad sit down at the kitchen table to review the list of money they gave out, they realize that there isn’t enough left to pay their bills. After a heated yelling match the only thing the two can agree on is to go to their next door neighbor and ask for a loan. This goes on for months, each one growing more and more frustrated with their lives. The only way to fix this growing program before their utilities are cut off and they get evicted from their house is to balance their budget. They decide that their expenses need to be made less than their revenue either by decreasing expenses, increasing revenue or a combination of both.
First, Mom and Dad make a list of the things they spend money on: utilities (electrical power and water purification), security (home security system and watchdogs to protect the children), food (agricultural), transportation (gas and travel), medical (for all members of the family), education (tuition), and supporting their grandparents and pets (social security and welfare). Mom insists that some of the unnecessary items be removed or reduced. For example, the children can carpool, they can send the children to self-defense classes then retire the watchdogs, different schools can be found with a lower tuition, the pets can be given up for adoption, and the grandparents can be moved into the house to help out with the chores instead of staying in an assisted living facility. Dad does not agree. He wants to find more efficient ways of doing everything in order to keep the children happy while saving the family some money. Both Mom and Dad share their ideas with their children, who refuse to give up anything and instead insist that they be allowed to pitch in less to the family budget.
Realizing that this will not solve the issue, Mom counters, insisting that if everyone likes all the things the family owes and enjoys they would each need to pay a bit more into the family funds in order for them to continue doing it. Seeing the children beginning to grow upset, Dad offers instead for the eldest of the children, whose money pools are larger than the others, to pay a little bit more in order to keep things fair and balanced to the younger children. He has to offer more freedoms to the elder children, however, to get them to agree. While things seem to go smoothly for a week or so, Mom and Dad find themselves at a familiar cross-road. No money and a growing debt-check to the next door neighbor.
Why not try both things, the parents ask themselves? So, Mom and Dad again call a family meeting and each offer ways to both cut little bits of what they spend on and make small increases to what they are paying into the family to help even things out. Mom wants to reduce the number of pets the family has instead of getting rid of all of the pets completely. Dad wants to spend a little bit extra now to install solar panels on the roof to help cut their utility bill in the future. The children agree to some, but not all of the many suggestions Mom and Dad make as the weeks go by. However, it is still not enough to bring the family’s budget even, and with each passing week, Mom and Dad grow more and more considered that the neighbor will knock on the door and insist on payment.
This is where things stand now. The United States is a giant family, the American family, whose family-decisions are made by a majority agreement of the people living in the house, the American population, the family’s children. While the political parties, Republicans and Democrats, can continually argue over which method is best for balancing the budget, and while each party can present their best solutions for managing the country’s money, there is only one way we will ever achieve this goal. The only way America will be able to balance and then maintain a balanced budget is for the American people to band together and insist upon the types of policies that will decrease expenses, increase revenue or a combination of both.
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