It's official -- the Proverbial Rainy Day is Upon Us -- it's a pretty big Thing

Dear America,

happy monday.

moms around the country -- the world -- are beginning a brand new week; it's back to school, work, schedules, appointments, groceries, and anything else that falls under the job description.  it's a big umbrella.

and for the most part -- according to how most of us live -- it is the mom who keeps tabs on the checkbook...ergo...what goes IN must come OUT in such a way that covers it all. and with great hope and plenty of good intentions, leaving enough leftover to stash away for a rainy day.

while when putting all of this pressure under the weight of the persistent, torrential, doom and gloom, economic reality on the day -- these truly become the days, weeks, months, that try a mom's soul.

BUT here's some perspective for you --  and it's from one of my favorite hot spots on the web, The Heritage Foundation.  The article covers a variety of budgetary conundrums of the present day in pictures.  (Just gotta love a good graph, no?)

It was early on when a question posed made me stop and go tut tut looks like rain...

"What if Families 

Handled Finances 

Like the Federal Government Does?"

yeah...what if? and this is what it said:

"In 2010, median family income was $51,360. If a typical family followed the federal government’s lead, it would spend $73,319 and put 30 cents of every dollar spent on a credit card. This family would have racked up $325,781 in credit card debt–like a mortgage, only without the house. What credit card company would continue lending money to this family? All those numbers can be hard to visualize, so see for yourself what it looks like in one of our latest charts."

The collective financial picture is bleak, isn't it; and the worst part of it -- we did this to ourselves. But if I may be so bold, pretty much every mainstream mom  (and dads alike) saw this coming.

Every step of the way, individually and collectively, we made choices -- and most of these choices seem to revolve around playing fast and loose with the numbers, with the details, with our duty to the greater good.

And the truth is, we can only do that for so long before we are under water, without a bubble or a paddle.

Thankfully, life lines are available. It's called keeping our head's up and being more pro-active.

In another article featured in The Patriot Post -- Victor Davis Hanson gives us plenty of reasons to look into the pools of water forming around us and see ourselves, our America, for who we really are.  Here is an excerpt (okay, honestly, it's about half the article) from Decline or Decadence?

"Can decline be better measured by our vast debt of $16 trillion, growing yearly with $1 trillion deficits? Perhaps. But Americans know that with a new tax code, simple reforms to entitlements, and reasonable trimming of bloated public salaries and pensions, we could balance federal budgets. The budget crux is not due to an absence of material resources, but a preference for not acting until we are forced to in the 11th hour...

In other words, the manifest symptoms of decline -- frustration with the Middle East, military retrenchment, exorbitant energy costs and financial insolvency -- are choices we now make, but need not make in the future.

If our students are burdened with oppressive loans, why do so many university rec centers look like five-star spas? Student cell phones and cars are indistinguishable from those of the faculty.

The underclass suffers more from obesity than malnutrition; our national epidemic is not unaffordable protein, but rather a surfeit of even cheaper sweets.

Flash mobbers target electronics stores for more junk, not bulk food warehouses in order to eat. America's children do not suffer from lack of access to the Internet, but from wasting hours on video games and less-than-instructional websites. We have too many, not too few, television channels.

The problem is not that government workers are underpaid or scarce, but that so many of them seem to think mind readers, clowns and prostitutes come with the job.

...In 1980, a knee or hip replacement was experimental surgery for the 1 percent; now it is a Medicare entitlement.

American poverty is not measured by absolute global standards of available food, shelter and medical care, or by comparisons to prior generations, but by one American now having less stuff than another.

As America re-examines its military, entitlements, energy sources and popular culture, it will learn that our "decline" is not due to material shortages, but rather arises from moral confusion over how to master, rather than being mastered by, the vast riches we have created..."

America is living on borrowed time on all fronts.

The truth is raining down on us like cats and dogs.

Moms (and dads) everywhere have tightened the household budget many moons ago -- because the evil monster of the11th hour woke them up in the middle of the night with a gawd-awful howl.  And there is just no way he will go back under the bed now.

The good news -- whatever angst we are experiencing is of our own doing, as there is a bounty of organic material at our disposal in order to refurbish the people's house and create refuge -- even staying within budget.

Our future IS ours to see, que sera sera, rain or shine [just love the song and doris day].  Whatever will be, will be -- and potentially, exponentially, will be really good -- if we do the right thing today.  It is all about "how to master, rather than being mastered by, the vast riches we have created."

And it's funny -- from the outside -- it would appear we have everything, as when it comes to material shortages there are none.

The only thing is --  it's about what happens on the inside -- behind closed doors -- that truly matters in the end.

and ain't that the truth...

...wow...
...it took us by such surprise... 
...they seemed so happy...
...just out of the blue ...
...everything was just torn asunder...


The Inside: by definition, anything and everything that falls under the umbrella inherent with the privileges and duties pertaining to the job of being an American -- our foundation of limited government, our heritage reinforcing self-reliance and personal responsibility, our future generations raised according to our founding principles and values, our first intentions overflowing with integrity, honor, courage, and love.  If we are missing any of these things on the inside, the outside has no chance.


Make it a Good Day, G

hello?  America isn't even operating on a budget -- and hasn't worked within a budget for three years now, and counting.


the perfect storm is us.