Must have, like to have, wish to have...

"In the world of make believe, there is money everywhere! I guess Washington exists in the land of make believe..."

It is that time of year. Year end budgeting. Tying up financial loose ends from 2014. Budgeting items for what we want to do in 2015. We do it every year. Sometimes painful, sometimes fun, always necessary. Without a budget to guide us, it is like driving in a strange place with no map and no GPS.

I believe our family budgets like most families do. Usually the pots of money are divided into three. The "must haves", which are items like mortgage, food, insurance and utilities. The "like to have", which might be new windows, new carpeting, or other home improvements. Then of course are the "wish to have". Going out to eat, going on vacations, and so on. In lean times, we focused on only the "must have" items. In times of plenty, we could budget for all three.

I would like to compare and contrast this with the way our government budgets. Sorry - poor choice of words. Budgeting would imply there was some type of discipline involved. Our government is very, very good at spending. And I guess that is the end of the story. We can spend money, copious amounts of money, and that is about it.

In the paper this morning, there was an article about a very proud Senator Amy. It seems she "snuck" some money into the $1.1T spending bill which would promote tourism for the Midwest, including the Twin Cities. It is just not fair that the two coasts get more tourism. I would love to take Senator Amy to the woodshed for doing this, for this foolish waste of taxpayer money. But most everyone, on both sides of the aisle, do this. They sneak items (pork), into spending bills. It really does little harm - that is unless you consider an $18T debt harmful.

Next week we will slide into the new year. We might have a new sheriff in town. Based on the last election, the Republicans will control both the House and Senate. Will it make a difference in our spending? In our accountability? In our ever growing debt? It better. I have talked to more and more patriots who are ready to "pull the plug" on the Grand Old Party if they continue to act like statists rather than responsible representatives. And that fact, we can all take to the bank.