I know you didn't ask me but I will offer anyway.....
I agree 100%.. Many families are facing that same dilemma. How do they get out of the situation???
Jr has to go to state college instead of private school, or community college....or join the ROTC
Vacations become staycations
Birthday parties are at home or Mc Donald's instead of Six Flags. (unless you are 9 and friends with obama, then you go to Spain for your birthday).
They clip coupons
They eat at home.
In other words....they cut back.
Unfortunately some families take this attitude as well
They borrow from friends, family and whoever they can.
They string themselves along with tomorrow,tomorrow, tomorrow. Maybe the lottery. Maybe they will land a great job. Maybe a long lost uncle will pass away. Maybe Oprah will come a'knockin'
They continue eating out, going on vacations, buying stuff they don't need convincing themselves they "deserve it" for suffering through tough times. Or they "need it" for their sanity.
Sadly many of these families end in a family meeting with dad pulling the trigger.
Point? It is ridiculous to go forward in denial hoping that if we continue to spend, we will be able to afford it one day.
Now no one has to agree with me.....but here is what I see.
Our "leader" is a millionaire who spent 2008 espousing his compassion for the poor while giving less than 10% of his income to the poor. To me that is disgusting.
Our "leader" Spent $800 billion promising unemployment would not rise above 8%. It did......and the a large portion of that $800 billion went to college research grants which will never create jobs.
Our "leader" is a guy that knew how bad things were when he passed the stimulus and made his promises, yet fails to take responsibility for it's failure and instead uses measures like "jobs saved" and continues to blame his predecessor.
Our "leader" is a guy who just agreed to purchase helicopters from Russia while people at Bell helicopter are laid off.
So my take? Spending more than absolutely necessary now is a very bad idea. Trusting our "leader" to do that spending is idiotic and suicidal.