“I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy was a character in one of the classic old-time cartoons: “Popeye the Sailor Man” created by E.C. Segar of Chester, Illinois.
When I was a boy, growing up in Peoria, Illinois, my father would read the daily newspaper comic strips to me and my sister and brother. Being the older and largest, I would stand and my siblings would sit on dad’s lap. The daily comics consumed some significant time, as dad subscribed to three or four daily newspapers. Back then, the comics were scattered throughout the paper and, of course, that required exposure to nearly all the ads in the paper.
Another benefit was that we would be exposed to lots of news articles as well. As dad read slowly, for my younger siblings, I would often read parts of many news articles. One of my favorite comics was ‘Popeye the Sailor man.” One of the frequent characters found in “Popeye” was J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy was always hungry and always broke. He would frequently say to the cook at the local restaurant: “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Back in the late “40′s this was absurd. No one sold hamburgers on “credit.” Wimpy went hungry.
Our world is far different now. Very few people pay cash anymore. Everything goes on the credit card. It is quick, easy, and all too often disastrous. This also disconnects the actual payment for the goods or services from the receipt and enjoyment. When the bill comes due, we have forgotten the pleasure we received a month ago. Many people fail to pay the credit card in full when due. This starts the fatal cycle of credit card debt. Reliance on this cycle actually reduces your standard of living, because of the high cost of credit card interest.
Our United States federal government has fallen prey to this vicious “credit card” cycle. There is one difference. The federal government is able to control interest rates. Instead of the 20% plus interest rate most people pay for using a credit card, the U.S. Government is able to borrow money at a much lower interest rate. Currently the U.S. pays approximately 3.56% rate on 10-year savings bonds.
The statistics are mind-blowing. The current U.S. Gross Domestic Product is $25.35 trillion. To say that out loud is: “25 trillion three hundred fifty billion dollars.” Each trillion equals $1,000 billion. The current outstanding debt owed by the federal government of the United States of America is $28.43 trillion. In other words, our debt is $3 trillion more than we produce (earn) in an entire year.
Let’s look at this a different way. Assume we could stack one trillion one-dollar bills. This stack would reach 67,866 miles high. That is more than a fourth of the way to the moon. If we were able to stack the entire federal debt of $28.43 trillion (that is $28,430,000,000,000) in one-dollar bills, it would reach almost 2 million miles high. This would equal more than 4 round trips to the moon.
Back to earth. If you have a $40,000 balance on your credit cards you will pay about $8,000 interest in a year. Think of what you could do with an extra $8,000. In four years, you could save enough to pay cash for a pretty decent automobile or truck.
By the way, there are a total of 44.7 million people in the U.S. with outstanding student loans. The average outstanding student loan is over $33,000. The total amount of outstanding student loans is $1.7 trillion.
Just think – If J. Wellington Wimpy had not wanted that 5-cent hamburger on credit 70 years ago you might have an extra $8,000 to spend this year.
The price of gas in Creston was $1.86 a gallon on Jan. 20, 2021. It now sells for $4.65 a gallon. Bacon was 99 cents a pound and now is selling for $4.99 a pound. Can you get formula for your baby yet?
Mike Lang, Chairman, Union County Republican Central Committee.