Your cost-saving government at work

OK, regulars know that I rarely do anything political on this little self-indulgence I call a blog.  I would usually rather talk about technological change, media and my beloved hobby of amateur radio.  I'm not apolitical, though.  Just hard to pin down or label according to the usual definitions.  Truth is I am way, way conservative on some things and way, way liberal on others.  Add it all up and I guess it puts me--on average--somewhere near the middle.

But our government's proclivity to spend more and more and more money that we don't have is really bothering me lately.  Even with tax season and the usual awareness of how much of my income gets sucked in, I do maintain that I don't mind paying my fair share.  If I had even an inkling that the various governments out there were being good stewards of those involuntary contributions I make.

That's why I thought this bit of whimsy I received in my email today was especially appropriate:

President Obama has given his cabinet instructions to cut $100 million from the $3.5 trillion federal budget!  I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2000 a month on groceries, medicine, bills, etc, but it's time to get out the budget cutting ax, go line by line through my expenses, and see what I can do.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio -1/35,000 of my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending $2000 a month, I'm going to have to cut that number by six cents!



Yes, I'm going to have to get by with spending $1999.94, but that's what sacrifice is all about. I'll just have to do without some things, that are, frankly, luxuries. I expect all of you to follow the lead of our president and I and make similar sacrifices.