What is Property?

Exactly what is property? Those who play the board game "Monopoly" understand it as a deed to property onto which can be built houses and hotels. Rent is charged to those that land on the property and the amount is determined by how much improvement was done to the property.

As a newsboy, I earned one-third of a cent for each daily paper I sold. I had to purchase the route from the previous newsboy because it was his property. Upon my purchase it became my property. If I increased the number of customers I serviced my income went up. My income became my property. I bought a bike with my earnings and it became my property.

When I began to work at the Ford Motor Company I received a salary for the work I did. That salary was my property. When I put the  money into the bank the interest the money earned became my property. From the money in the bank, I bought a car and it became my property. I used some of my earnings to buy clothes, my property.

When it became time to buy a house a new wrinkle set in. I negotiated for a loan of someone else's property with which to buy a house. The title of the house became mine, by law, even though I owed a specified sum of money on it. It became my property but with a string attached.

When I buy food with the money from my salary, it is my food. If I stock a pantry in the house with food, it is my property. If I throw a party, supplied with beer and liquor, it is of my choosing to dispense some of my property to others.

All money that is saved is postponed consumption. When I made $1.10 per week selling papers, I would, after collection day, sometimes get a coke and small bag of potato chips just to reward myself. The rest went into the bank. There it stayed until I might have a need for it. It was there for me, as my property, until I wanted to consume. it.

There are some individuals in this society that have been able to acquire large amounts of property. Either they earned it or had it gifted through inheritance. These people have become pariahs in this Country. A majority of our citizens are willing, even demanding, that their property be taken away from them. Our President is one of those persons.

The founding fathers of this Country declared that all were created equal and are entitled by the Creator to life, liberty and property. The Fifth Amendment says that these cannot be taken away without due process. The taxes paid by individuals are indeed due process. However, when we hear that some people are not paying their "fair share", and it is said mostly by members of one political party, is the mere saying it as they do constitute "due process"?

Broke

It is hard to believe that this country has accumulated a debt of 16 trillion dollars. Very few people have any concept of just what that means. Economists have tried to tell the population but their jargon tunes people out. Even our politicians, who are supposed to be our best and brightest, do not understand the danger to this country of such a large debt. They cannot get their heads around even one trillion. How can we expect the electorate to understand? They don't.

Most households have two contributors to the household income. If one of them ceases to contribute the household goes into debt; or, expenses are cut to generally meet the available income. Debt is available but it must be severely controlled because bankruptcy will come a knocking. Most households understand the problem of outspending their household income. When a household goes too far into debt there is personal bankruptcy, most people understand that. To take that understanding to a national level is beyond the average individual.

The numbers are too great, and besides, this Country has always had debt. Interest on the debt must be paid and for many years the interest was paid. Now, interest merely adds to the debt. We are adding to the debt without thought for the future. My new grand daughter Penny's personal share of the national debt was $227,000 at the time she was born. As I look at that small body I think, there is no way she will be able to pay that.

Yet, spending increases are expected every year. A large portion of our population is counting on it, yes, even demanding it. Even now the President is expecting to increase spending by 1.5 trillion. When does it stop? How does it stop?

Some say: "take it from the rich." There is not enough money there to keep this voracious government running for very long. The profits of the Fortune 500 richest companies come to 400 billion a year. If they are totally confiscated it will only run this country for 40 days. Yep, we are spending 10 billion a day. Also, there are 400 billionaires in this country and they have a net worth of 1.3 trillion. We spend 3.7 trillion a year. If all the billionaires money is taken from them it is easy to see that it will not cover our spending. The rich cannot get us out of this problem no matter how much we tax them.

How can we get the populace to understand this problem? Many are completely dependant upon the government and most believe that they do not get enough from the government. For them they do not want to hear this country is broke, and some do not care. Yet, politicians continue to promise more. We are broke, broke, broke. We must get this through to our politicians, but how?