I ran into Chip last Thursday. Chip and I worked together YEARS ago when aerospace was much more diverse than it is today.
We caught up on family and what we are doing in our lives. This took a while as Chip didn’t know I was married (I got married right before Y2K didn’t hit).
Chip also has had different life experiences so it’s interesting and insightful to hear his perspective on things. We talked about current events, political events and the massive changes over the past couple of years due to the pandemic.
Although we disagreed on how the US Government is spending (or should be spending) our children’s wealth, we did agree that the government has grown tremendously large compared to where it was in the 1980s and 1990s when we worked together.
I asked him “How are your plans for retirement coming along?” to which he replied, “It’s difficult these days.” I had to agree. I told him I planned to retire on February 1, 2049 (this is a factual date, even though I am 63 when I write this).
“Can you imagine what the country will look like in 2049 considering the changes we’ve witnessed since the 1990s and extrapolating this trajectory another 28 years?” Chip asked. I wondered how many czars, departments and overall, the size of the US bureaucracy in 2049. “I don’t want to think about it,” was Chip’s reply.
“There is a simple way to fix all this,” I replied.
“Really? How?” Chip responded.
“Easy. You may laugh at the term I use but it describes the entire situation. I call it ‘DEFUND DC.’”
“What do you mean by that? Are you some kind of anarchist?” came the reply.
“Not at all,” I replied. Continuing, I asked, “Aren’t you a Pastor these days?”
“Yes” Chip answered.
“Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University?”
“Yes, I have. In fact, our church hosts those classes from time to time.”
“That’s great as it’s a simple way to educate the average person or couple on how to become financially savvy as well as wealthy.”
“So what does financial peace have to do with Washington? As well as your DEFUND DC suggestion?”
“One of the first tenets of financial peace is to get control of your money by setting a budget and sticking with it. A lot of people have to stop or turn off or possibly sell things in order to get to living within their means.”
“And?”
“So Defund DC is simply putting the country on a budget to live within its means. For example, Washington borrows 43 cents for every dollar spends. It also has a 78% overhead, meaning Washington spends 78 cents of every dollar they spend on themselves and ‘feeding the beast.’ Only 22 cents of every dollar actually goes to the intended recipient.
“Now if you call your Congressional Representative and ask them how much they spent on this program or that, they can tell you what the government officially claims they spent, but they have no idea where the money actually went, how much was used, where it was used, where any kick-backs or payoffs occurred, and so forth.
“In the recently passed infrastructure bill, of the $1.2 trillion within the bill, the government will BORROW $516 Billion and spend $936 billion on itself, leaving $264 billion to assist the intended industries, recipients, and so on.
“Now Chip, do you mind telling me (in ballpark terms) how much the church paid you last year?”
Chip was hesitant but I offered to share what I made and where I made it just to even the field. He replied he was paid $52,500 in 2020.
“OK. So, Chip, of the $52,500 you took in, did you borrow another $22,575 on your credit cards in order to live a $75k lifestyle?”
“Of course not. That’s a quick way to seriously hurt the family as well as be a poor example to my ‘flock.’”
“I understand. Did you use $58,500 on yourself, such as your car, your vacations, your clothes and other things leaving $16,575 for your wife and family to live on?”
“The word has some harsh things to say about people who live like that… To paraphrase, I would be worse than an unbeliever.”
“But, that’s exactly the type of figures your Congressional Representative is doing to the entire country. And, like I said, they have no clue where the money is going, how much is going there, and so forth. They simply borrow more when they run out.”
“Wow, Ted, when you put it in those terms, our Congressional representatives and Senators should be put in prison for fraud and deceit.”
“Chip, do you ever see that happening?”
“I don’t see how…”
“That’s why we have to DEFUND DC – it’s the only way I can think of to get a handle on this. Turn everything off and turn back on ONLY the essentials the Constitution says are within the Federal government’s authority. And return everything else to the States or to private companies.”
“But, Ted that would be chaos?”
“WHY?”
“Well, if you don’t have the government running these things, think of the amount of abuse that’s possible…”
“Abuse, as it more than now? After all, if a private company or a person mismanages their money, they go out of business (as they should). I’m simply saying why not have the Federal government act like we expect our friends, our neighbors and the businesses we frequent to act.
“Also, England did this during the late 1970s. It was called Privatisation under Margaret Thatcher.
“Isn’t it interesting that England THRIVED when it “DEFUNDED the GOVERNMENT through Privatization.”
“Hmmm, Ted. You’ve given me something to think about. DEFUND DC. It does have a familiar ring to it.”
“That ring, Chip, is all the extra coinage in your pockets after we DEFUND DC…”
