Cheney Speak

Vice President Dick Cheney said that too many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and need to do a better job of saving. Brilliant deduction Sherlock, what was your first clue. Now just how should we solve this problem? A lot of people are using plastic to make ends meet.Those of us who don't have plastic have to try to live frugally or occasionally dip into savings. That is if we even have savings. With the arrival of each monthly bill we constantly see that companies are raising their rates.Every time you go to the gas station you pay more. Many people who used to be able to budget their expenses, can't do that any more. They resort to charging and hoping to pay it off the following month. But that doesn't always work. So often by the time the bill comes in, people discover they can't pay off the bill as they had planned because some other expense has made it impossible. Frequently people have to borrow from savings to make ends meet. It's the old "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" theory. The trouble with that is that Peter never seems to be repaid.

We could take a cue from the Federal Government. Let's just run our family budget like they do. Just keep charging or adding more debt, promising to pay it later. After all, isn't our government debt in the trillions of dollars? How much saving is the government doing? Oh, yeah, let's cut programs like Medicare, Medicaid and who know what else. Has this balanced the budget? No, Mr Cheney, it hasn't. This is a little like "don't do what I do, do what I say" or the "pot calling the kettle black" mentality. Americans are trying desperately to stay afloat. No one wants to have to borrow money to make ends meet. But when the transportation to work is broken, how do you get to work? Not every one can take public transportation. Just try to take a sewer machine on the bus. That is if a bus runs close enough to your home and you only have one stop to make. Sometimes people have to use their savings.

Yes, Mr. Cheney, Americans should not have to live paycheck to paycheck and save more.Many people do spend foolishly. Clothes do wear out. Children outgrow them. Weather ruins crops, causing prices to rise, costing the public more. And so on and so on. Thanks for overstating the obvious, Mr. Vice President. We do live paycheck to paycheck and don't save enough. What would you suggest we do to solve this? Go quail hunting? Sorry, I can't afford the license fee.