Dollar Bills Y'all

I was awakened this morning by the sonic boom from the Space Shuttle re-entering the atmosphere. It was a few minutes after 5:00 AM. The two back-to-back sounds were so loud, bass-y and strong that I instantly knew it was something strange; not a gunshot, earthquake or lightening. Laura said it was the sound of the shuttle coming in. I didn’t believe her. We turned on the news and got to see the shuttle actually land live. Very dark outside still but really cool. I have to admit, for the first time in this entire episode of space mission, I was sucked in. Usually our visits to space are of interest to me. Right now though, with the war going on I just can’t justify it in my mind. We’re spending all this money on, what seems to me, unnecessary expenses. This morning on Air America, Al Franken’s show specifically, he mentioned the tax cuts that took place for that “1%” of our population. Supposedly this is the first time in World history that a government has given a tax reduction during a time of war. Doesn’t it make you wonder where all this money we're spending is coming from? Does our government even consider the debt its leaving behind to the next generations? I remember when I was a kid and was visiting my Grandparents over a summer. Their water heater died. My grandfather went into his bedroom and closed the door. Next thing you know, we’re going to the hardware store and he buys a new one – with cash. No checks, no credit cards, no in-store financing. My grandfather used to say, if you don’t have the money, you don’t buy it. Plain and simple. Wow. Can any one of us even fathom living our lives this way? I’m about to sign on the dotted line, well many, many dotted lines, and set myself back just under a quarter of a million dollars. This is the way we invest in our future these days, you see. What would my Grandfather be saying if he were here to witness this? He paid cash for the house my Dad grew up in up in Stockton, California. I seem to recall the figure of $4000 but I could be a little off on that. It was a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house on a decent sized lot. It had a huge basement that was probably the size of the house itself. The city bought it from my Dad and his brother and sisters to build a freeway over it at some point in the late 1980’s. I believe they got around $60,000 for it. Wow, just call me Tangent Girl today. My point is money and I suppose this is all at the forefront of my mind since I’m only 18 days away from committing myself to the biggest debt I’ve ever had in my life. Someone needs to tell me I’m doing the right thing. Ugh!