Ok, so I haven't yet been able to find any links to the transcript of Obama's speech from last night, but I found some snippets that I cut and pasted together from various news articles and commentary pieces....and then re-worded to see how Obama's proposal sounds when it's addressed on an individual (or small family) scale.
I figure, if his "increase taxes and spend more to get out of debt" budget plan works at the government level, then surely it should work for my personal finances too.
Again... I don't have his whole speech, but I think the quotes I did find encapsulate Obama's plan pretty well:
My fellow Americans:
My household faces serious economic troubles. Even after our economy recovers, I will still be on track to spend more money than I take in throughout this decade and beyond. That means I’ll have to keep borrowing more from companies like Capital One. And that means more of my paycheck will go toward paying off the interest on all the loans I keep taking out. By the end of this decade, the interest I owe on my debt could rise to nearly $1 trillion. Just the interest payments.
Some people would have me reduce my credit card spending. A 70 percent cut in fine dining, a 25 percent cut in Amazon.com purchases, a 30 percent cut in vacations…cuts in massages and hair products. That’s their proposal. These are the kinds of cuts that tell me I can’t afford the America that I believe in and, I think, you believe in.
Therefore, my budget plan for 2011 includes maxing out my credit card and making minimum payments on the interest of my debt, because I shouldn’t have to choose between a future of spiraling debt and one where I forfeit investments in myself.
I believe that any other plan paints a vision of our future that is deeply pessimistic. It’s a vision that says if my clothes tear and my high heels wear out, I can’t afford to fix them and buy more. If I am a bright young American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to Disney World, I can’t afford to go.
To meet my fiscal challenge, you will need to make reforms. You will all need to make sacrifices. My employer will need to give me a raise. But, rest assured, I do not have to sacrifice the America I believe in. As long as I’m in charge of my finances, I won’t.
Sure, I will make the tough cuts necessary to achieve these savings, including in purchases I care about, but I will not sacrifice the core investments I need to grow. I’ll invest in Save the Whale campaigns and buy new energy-efficient appliances (even though the ones I have are less than 3 years old). I’ll invest in a new car, better cable TV and broadband access.
I will do what I need to compete and I will win the future.
~Gee
No comments:
Post a Comment