What the heck is an “Unfunded Liability”?
In our efforts to build the American dream, encourage people to work hard and be good law abiding citizens our society invented the safety net of social services and financial back ended rewards such as pensions and social security. Great motivators—and I am all about motivation—however when you put in the time and then the reward is not there when you need it, it creates the “great consternation.” This ,my friends is called “Unfunded Liabilities.”
If you borrow money from a bank, you are expected to pay it back. If you gamble at a casino on your credit card, you are expected to pay back your losses. If you promise a friend to help them in the future, your friend expects you to help.
If you don’t have the cash to pay back the loan, squander your credit on gambling or have no intention of helping your friend—those are “Unfunded Liabilities,” which will damage your relationship.
So, what happens?
A bank can harm your credit rating and you might lose the friend; the gambler may bring some real hurt to collect the debt.
I listen to talk radio a lot. Being a talk show host leads you into the talk show world and I always want to improve not only the vocabulary, but to find new issues to talk about, plus I just enjoy the learning process.
So I have been hearing this term “Unfunded Liabilities” quite a bit. This is something I want to talk about more in depth, as it really gets my motor firing.
I am convinced that the best way to deal with our nation’s unfunded liabilities is for each and every one of us to deal with our own, personal, unfunded liabilities whether it be health, fitness, happiness, and/or finances.
Let’s improve our quality of life
I want us all to improve our quality of life.
Ignoring debt can only make matters worse; head in the sand will not protect you when the tsunami hits the shore.
Unfunded liabilities, entitlements, pensions and the like started as great ideas. However, moving forward into the future, they have become an incredible hindrance.
We don’t have to do it alone. We can help each other solve our own problems together. Friends help friends, neighbors help neighbors, and, ultimately, citizens reach out to each other to improve our collective health, fitness, and finances.
That will make a lot of us happy.
It is time to step up and fix things. Through adversity grows opportunity I like to say.
We need to become engaged in the process of improving our QOL (quality of life), because our road trip is just beginning and we need all of the tools and supplies that will make this a memorable road trip into the future; so what are these “tools and supplies”?
QOL List
Here is the start of our list, and I would like everyone to contribute their own thoughts. No idea is a bad idea!
- Live in the moment and look forward to the future—reminiscing is ok but we have way too many cool things coming to dwell.
- Small steps to improve your QOL—great road trips take planning; making changes in your life take time, imagination, and a positive mental attitude. Now we are talking.
- Accept the fact that to worry about unfunded liabilities and entitlements is a waste of time. Strategize. Find your passion and don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Build your foundation for the roadtrip by equipping the bus with all of the tools that will empower us to have a blast, be it education, training, or volunteering, nutrition, fitness and rest—all of these tools need to be in our toolbox.
With all your help, we can accomplish this!
Featured photo credit: US Federal Government via google.com
