If a wage earner in a normal American family has their hours cut, is laid off, or God forbid fired, what do MOST sensible people do? I think I would evaluate the situation, see how much of a deficit the family is facing and then go to work at cutting what can be cut.
For example:
- Cell Phones: cut the plan minutes, cut the internet and text messaging
- Cable and Satellite TV: cut out the movie channels, scale down to the basics
- Fast Food: eliminate it
- Grocery Shopping: stop buying junk, candy, chips, etc.
- Credit Cards: stop buying things that aren't "Free"! Credit card rates are going up, up, up and especially if you are losing income you can't afford higher monthly payments
- Entertainment: Stop going out to movies, restaurants, bars, etc. It may make you feel good for the short term, but so will renting a movie for $4.99 and making a pizza with the family
W/R/T your #2: we have Dish Network, and have had since our days up in Grand County (since the Divide has a way of blocking signals from the Front Range); we discovered last month that it's now possible to pay for just local channels for something like $6 a month. For those who have cable/satellite not for the extra channels but just for decent reception, that's a reasonable option.
ReplyDeleteAs for the broader point of your post: remember, these are folks for whom increased government spending equals increased political power. Viewed from the right angle, their actions make perfect sense.