OPM

You know, if you say the three letters in the title, it sounds a lot like "opium." Which is appropriate, I suppose, because using OPM is addictive. By "OPM", I mean "Other People's Money."

Margaret Thatcher once said,  "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

Our current president seems happily addicted to OPM. He doesn't seem concerned about the rapidly increasing debt and sees no problem with continued spending. His latest example of  largesse is his executive order increasing the minimum wage of those working for the federal government, and for government contractors, to $10.10 per hour.  Who could argue with that? Working people deserve a living wage, don't they? Except, of course, that isn't really one.

Who will pay for that increase? You, if you pay income tax. And your children and your grandchildren and their children. The contractors won't actually pay it, they will just bill the government for what are called "cost overruns" and the federal employees are, of course paid by you.

At some point, it will all fall apart. The debt will will destroy the country. Prior to that, it will trigger something called "hyperinflation." We have not seen this yet. Not even in those days of 16% VA loans. Remember? The "malaise" of Jimmy Carter? The high interest rates coupled with high unemployment? It is out there, on the horizon, and moving closer every day... only much, much, worse than the late 70's.

Our national credit card is beyond maxed out. We just raised the debt ceiling again. Debts eventually have to be paid, though, and when we can no longer even just pay the interest on our debt, the misery will truly begin.