If you go to one of the national debt clock sites as I did yesterday, it’ll remind you of the pitiful example our government officials are setting for us. The clocks are there help us realize what’s happening. Did you ever see that many numbers? Having trouble comprehending because of all the commas?

Looks different when you add all the zeros doesn’t it? That’s about $30,300 for each person. Some say, that after you figure in the interest they’ve promised to pay the bondholders of the debt, it’s over $100,000 for each man, woman and child.

We’re so deeply in debt ourselves as individuals we’re not making our elected officials responsible for what they do. But we blame them, when them is WE THE PEOPLE. Our own credit card debt as a nation has increased over thirty percent in the last decade according to a study by the Center for Responsible Lending.

The use of PLASTIC has replaced what we used to do,have a savings cushion. Too many of us have replaced our savings accounts for the unexpected set of tires or other emergencies, with easy, high interest debt available through the use of the cards.

We all lie about it and cover it up because people with credit card debt are thought to be lacking in the self discipline department. Yet they send us so many messages to consume. So we lie and we keep spending.

We even tell our friends that we beat our debt problem. We tell them. ‘Yeah … it was tough, but we did it.’

BOLOGNA!

Only because of the low interest rates and the rise in equities in our homes have most of us been able to afford our lifestyle. We’re using investment income, increased home equities, paying off the credit card debt we created going out to dinner four times a week, paying for the cell phones, the ninety-nine dollar cable bill, the gasoline to go see grandma and even the shirts on our backs.

Twenty-five years ago households were carrying debt equal to about sixty percent of their disposable income. They were using about seventeen to eighteen percent of their disposable income to service the debt. Recently our households are carrying debt equal to their total disposable income.

Yet we’re servicing the debt at the same levels. This forces us to go back to the well, the equity in the house to get the total debt back down to a more comfortable level.

Problem is, we’ve created a habit. Humans are creatures of habit. The plastic itself is the culprit. It represents an infinite supply of green stuff, greenbacks, you know CASH.

We’re so addicted to the use of the cards(debt) we’re not watching what’s happening to us financially. I personally feel this addiction is as real as some of the drug/alcohol addictions we face as a society.

So what can we do about it? Well, it starts with WE THE PEOPLE ourselves. Go back to a cash and greenback system yourself. Leave the plastic at home for a week.

Try it. If you’re like me and most of the people we share this concept with, by the end of a week you’ll spend less.

Don’t know for sure why it works, it just does. It may have something to do with the way we spent money as children.

We had no access to debt, so we watched our usable funds more closely. Even if you don’t have a debt problem at all, try it. Carry the greenbacks and leave the plastic hidden somewhere in the house.

Next share your new found experience with your spouse. After that share your families experience with everyone you know. This debt issue is one of our nations biggest issues as a society. It’s not going to go away. The only way to solve it is one person at a time.

A grass-roots campaign will have to be implemented and it will have to spread over time, person to person, family to family, community to community. Only then will enough of us break away from the crowd and demand fiscal responsibility from our elected representatives. It starts however with WE THE PEOPLE and that’s you and me.

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