An agreement has been reached and passed by the House. Now, we are awaiting the Senate’s vote. Whew…talk about taking us to a precipice! Honestly, I can’t believe it took this long to reach an agreement. In my opinion, choosing to default was never a viable option – especially given our history of having raised the debt ceiling 74 times since 1962 – ten of which have occurred in the last decade!
I’ve been riveted by the debt ceiling debates (if that’s what we want to call it) because if nothing else it highlights an ongoing conflict of capitalism – greed vs. self-interest – on both a macro and micro/personal level. I’ll come back to the macro aspect of this in another issue as it is definitely an overlooked factor when it comes to creating financial intimacy.
For now, I want to focus on the micro/personal level and put a spotlight on three lessons you and I can glean from the debt ceiling debate and apply to the management of our personal finances: (Continue reading…)