Ask the Readers: Would You Donate to the Government?
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Christie, John Mc, and Elizabeth S. for winning this week's contest!
The United States is currently over $14 trillion dollars in debt. After the recent debt-ceiling crisis, almost everyone became painfully aware of how in trouble the United States is financially. But is the severity of the situation enough to cause Americans to pull together to try to alleviate the debt issue by donating to the Bureau of Public Debt?
Would you donate to the government? Do you think that people should donate to help the United States reduce it's debt? Why or why not?
Tell us if you would donate to the government and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards
We're doing three giveaways — one for random comments, one for random Facebook "Likes", and another one for random tweets.
Mandatory Entry:
- Post your answer in the comments below
For extra entries (1 per action):
- Go to our Facebook page, "Like" us, and leave a comment telling us you did, or
- Tweet your answer. You have to be a follower of our @wisebread account. Include both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" in your tweet so we'll see it and count it. Leave a link to your tweet (click the timestamp for the individual URL) in a separate comment.
If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.
Giveaway Rules:
- Contest ends Monday, August 29th at 11:59 pm Pacific. Winners will be announced after August 29th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
- You can enter all three drawings — once by leaving a comment, once by liking our Facebook update, and once by tweeting.
- This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered, or associated with Facebook.
- You must be 18 and US resident to enter. Void where prohibited.
Note: Due to recent changes in Facebook's promotions guidelines, we have restructured the entry format of our giveaways.
Good Luck!
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You can donate now , but when you do it doesn't go to paying off the debt. It just goes to new spending. Their was a blog post on another site that told all about it & it was documented.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/OliverDelSignore/2011/07/26/the-great...
I would donate time and a small amount of money if I could direct it to specific programs.
The day I give money to bail out this self-inflicted deficit is the day Congress empowers a separate, independent agency to set its own pay and benefits packages.
Yes! I don't mean to get all Socrates-y, but if we live through the times of largess we should at least help pay up in hard times.
I already have...I paid my taxes. I would not voluntarily give the government any more money when they have shown time & time again that they can't properly manage what they have currently.
I would donate based on my ability - $10. I doubt if amounts would be donated to have a significant effect. Tax the rich!
If I opearted my financial affairs the way the US government has, I would be living on the street. It's beyond time to quit paying politics and get serious about the finanical welfare of this great country.
There is no way I would donate. The money would probably end up in some pork barrel project in the middle of no where.
I absolutely would NOT donate to the government. They already take too much out of my check without my permission and they have proven that they can't even handle that. The waste that goes on in our government is disgusting and if we ran our personal finances the way the government does - nobody would ever succeed!! If anything, I think citizens should be allowed to keep their whole paycheck, pay a flat tax and take care of our families ourselves.
I already give them a lot of my money, and they turn around and give it to rich people. So, no.
I would not donate to the government. It has nothing to do with supposed overtaxation or overspending--in the U.S., our taxes are shamefully low, as are our social spending programs. Taxation should not be voluntary or follow a charity model, and no voluntary donation scheme would, in my opinion, ever provide sufficient revenue while being appropriately progressive in nature.
I like Wise Bread on Facebook!
I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/FakeGradSchool/status/108371122885623808
I would not donate to the government. I would feel better if I knew where my money was going, similar to selecting a charity.
Afraid not. B.O. would give it to his golfing buddies.
I currently donate to the government debt, however these are involuntary. I think most know them as TAXES; I think that if the debt were wiped out tomorrow, it would be reinstituted the day after - that is due to the greed of the members of congress, the executive branch, and to lesser extent, the judiciary.
When I have more outgo than income, I cut back. Is this a difficult concept for anyone? The Social Security and Medicaid funds have been plundered by previous generations of politicians.
Paying down the deficit would be like buying cheap wine for a homeless person; and I'm no enabler.