by Margaret Hudson

Created on: April 17, 2008

Simple answer - no. Our government is fiscally irresponsible sending money to other countries while seemingly ignoring the financial needs of our own citizens. All financial systems are basically the same in that if income exceeds expenditures there is profit, but if expenditures exceed income there is deficit. For a financial system to work, there must eventually be profit. Many citizens of this country simply do not understand how the government works, and blissfully turn a blind eye to the fiscal irresponsibility with the ignorant thought that it doesn't affect them. For sake of argument, let's use the financial system of a normal family for analysis.

Our example family has two children, and both parents work. Their average income is about $3,000 per month. They have a $900 mortgage payment, and luckily only one car payment, which is about $500 a month. This leaves them about $1,600 a month for all their other bills - the 4 credit cards, gasoline, groceries, utilities, cell phones, personal needs (clothing, shoes, medical, etc.). In our example month, one of their children has fallen while trying to emulate Spider-man and broken his collarbone. Although they have medical insurance through the father's workplace, there is a 20% copay on the total emergency room bill of $7,500, or an extra expenditure of $1,500. This leaves only $100 for that month for the normal expenditures. There are two possibilities for this family - pay the entire medical bill and juggle the rest of their bills, or spread the medical bill out over a period of months until it is paid. Which option they choose is dependent on a number of factors, including whether they have any money saved to pay this extra bill, and what kind of payment arrangements the hospital is willing to make. They know that there will have to be some belt tightening until this bill is taken care of, and that it is likely that their finances will have a "deficit" for however long it takes to get this taken care of. Such is life.

Now, if this family decides to pay the bill in full and deplete their resources, they are faced with the 4 credit card bills (averaging $25 each), gasoline to get to work to earn money, groceries, utilities, cell phones, and personal needs that they simply do not have the money to pay for. In the interim, they get a call from John, the local minister, that the Jones family is really in dire straits and in jeopardy of losing their home since Mr. Jones has lost his job, and could they possibly

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