Could You Spend Like The Government?

Hearing the numbers about how much the government is currently in debt has frustrated many people in eastern Idaho.

The government has gotten away with it for generations. Could you get away with overspending what you have and still be able to increase your line of credit? Experts say that you wouldn’t stand a chance.

“You know, for a normal person, you want to live off of what you make. So whatever I take home as my monthly paycheck, I want to do a budget and figure out how much I could spend for the month,” said accountant Ryan Mathews.

People with whom we spoke with Friday night said that they wouldn’t stand a chance if they could rack up so much debt.

“If I had a credit card, I would probably go over it. I would probably go over the limit, and I’d be in debt a lot,” said student Harley Ramos.

The government, however, has managed to increase its debt limit by record rates.

In 1917, the debt ceiling in the United States stood at $11.5 billion. That might seem like a lot of money, but compare that with 2011’s current debt ceiling at $14.29 trillion.

“Personally I think that if you are saving about 10 percent of your income and put that away, then that is a pretty good number,” said Mathews.

“I save money. I think it’s important because then I have money to fall back on if I ever have a money crisis,” said student Trista Bishop.

Mathews also said that sometimes people are enticed by government tax incentives and end up more in debt because the incentives were made in the best interest of the government to gain revenue.