Money is Meaningless

With the national debt upwards of $8 trillion and most news quoting figures in the millions to trillions on a daily basis, that amount of money has lost all meaning. "Health care costs trillions every year". "The war in Iraq costs millions/day". "Social security is going to cost billions to fix". Who's counting? Who's actually paying? Schools don't have money for teachers. Cities don't have money for police officers. Students can't afford college. Doctors can't afford insurance. Where did all the money go? Who has all the money? Who spends all the money?

I make around 80K/yr. That's more than enough to live comfortably, even where I'm at in CA. I can't imagine what I'd do with $250K let alone millions or even billions.

The figures on the news are quoted to get a reaction but it doesn't even get a reaction anymore- it's just too much money. "Everyone" is apparently spending it but "nobody" has it.

Economics

You'd think someone with my salary and my debt would care about economics but I don't. Maybe someday when I have more money I'll worry about it. As it is, it makes no difference to me what the stock market is doing because I don't have enough savings/stocks/property/etc. to matter. Politicians can promise whatever they want but my cash flow will change very little regardless of who wins the White House. I have a friend who worries a lot about money and I'm very happy I don't share his stress.

Gas prices don't concern me either. Whether gas is $2/gal or $5/gal, I still have to go to work while my wife has to drive 2 kids around. That means 2 cars: a 1999 compact pickup and a 2005 minivan that are both paid for. I'm not thrilled with our average MPG but I can't afford new vehicles- hybrid or not. I can't bike to work. I can't not go to work. I can't carpool. My wife can't stay home all day every day. We'll stay a 2-car family and when one of the cars dies, maybe then we'll get to upgrade our average MPG.