When is the day where someday becomes today?

Ravenous, we dive into the fruit and food that has been laid out for us at the first station.

A simple place, the bamboo thatched roof does a welcomed job of protecting us from the heat of the sun.

While we are boldly making our way into the, for us, uncharted interior, the sound of the ocean waves can still be heard. The little elevation gain has been part of an enjoyable saunter.

1st station - warning a little dryness inside all this humidity.

In an effort to balance the federal government’s budget, there are four choices; raising taxes, cutting spending, borrowing or printing money.

Cutting spending is very visual and is felt immediately, consequently it can be difficult for a politician to do. It does contribute directly to balancing the budget.

Raising taxes, again, is very visual and the impacts are felt right away. If taxes are not too high, it can also contribute directly to balancing the budget. .

Borrowing money and printing money is far more insidious. They are not as visible and and they are a way of spending now and have someone else pay later.

With borrowing money, except for some of the interest, most of the costs of paying back the principle and interest are carried by a people in the future, a future electorate, and potentially a future generation.

The impact of printing money again isn’t felt right away.

Few people follow where we are debt wise or the impacts of printing. Does anyone know what their federal government borrowed last year? Does anyone know how much currency their government printed last year?

Even if you knew the number, would it mean anything to you? What do you compare it to? If we did know the number and what to compare it to, do we care?

The impacts are paid by a different electorate and people in the future and we are focused on problems right now; we will deal with that bridge when we get to it... right?

If we keep borrowing money to fix the problem, it is not really a fix. The system isn’t in balance. If we keep printing money to address the issues, that is not a fix. It just makes the problem bigger later.

Is it possible that later can get so out of whack, that it can’t be fixed by making adjustments?

Can our debt get so big that it can’t be paid back?

Can our need to print get so big that people no longer trust and want to hold the currency because it is loosing value so fast?

Well the answer is yes and it has happen many times before. So for us……

Where is that day? When is the day where someday becomes today?

The answer, apparently, is it takes 40 years!