Debt Ceiling - What Does It Mean For Me

For months now, we've all heard about the debt ceiling and the common person (me) has not really been clear on what that means for me as an American citizen.  I bet many finding this blog are thinking the same thing.  Moreover, what does it mean for investment purposes?

Late last night, CNN.com announced that the Congress and President Obama had reached a deal to settle the debt ceiling issues providing a balanced budget by November, cuts across both parties' sacred cows, and penalties if Congress doesn't have the issues and cuts decided by Thanksgiving.

Again, how does that affect a common investor like me?

I don't know that it does at this point.

In my openly naive point of view, I'm not investing in stocks for the short term, I'm investing for a lifestyle.  Very openly, I want to own a 100,000 of dividend paying shares in 10 years, and another 50,000 of dividend paying shares in less than 10 years.

So, with that goal in mind, I look at the debt ceiling issues.

The United States of America is the greatest country in the world.  Bar none.  Does the country have a lot to learn from our Euro brethren?  And Canadian border-mate?  Yes, we do.  Good, bad and ugly, we do.  Having traveled all over the world, however, seeing what other countries lack as far as general well being for its citizens, this country is still the best.

Here's why:

1. We off shored to save costs and now that other countries are charging too much money for our products, we're bringing manufacturing back home.  That's great for GDP.  What's even better is that the U.S. has not only the capacity to bring manufacturing back home, we have the technology giants to help us do so, we have some of the brightest minds in the business world located in New York, Boston, and D.C.  And we have the manpower to get plants started again.  Toss in the unemployed who would love nothing more than to obtain a great job, helping America grow again and all the signs are positive.
2. We stand up for the free and the monetary system called capitalism.  Those who have made their money earnestly through investments, sheer luck, or sheer determination to turn bad into good, are compensated for that prowess.  It is the same ideology as our professional athletes.  I'd love to have been an all star tennis player but for whatever reason, I only got to college playing the sport.  I never faced Serena, or in my time, Chris Evert or Martina.  They were well beyond my solid skill sets and had something "extra"... and that something 'extra' is why they were paid as well as they were.  Capitalism says to pay for what goods we want.  People did not want to pay to see a mediocre tennis player hack her way through a tournament, they want to see excellence.  Chris, Martina, Monica, Sererna, et al provide that supply, and the paying public, the demand.
3. We are a country with great compassion.  When the rest of the world barks at our doors, hounds us back home, threatens our safety, disparages us overseas... and then has catastrophic calamity hit, the U.S. comes flying in to help.  Other countries do as well, that is not to say our British friends, and French allies don't step up as well, they do.  But America is always first with our hearts and our pocketbooks; we're always there with our blood, sweat, and tears rebuilding schools, hospitals, and homes for those who cannot do for themselves.  When the famine was hitting Africa, it was Americans who stepped up with our musical geniuses and our pocketbooks to get food to the starving.

I believe for those reasons, and many others, the country will not fail.  We will never fail to live up to our promises, we will never fail to help others in need and we will never fail to be the greatest country on Earth. 

For those reasons, my investments are not changing today.  If I could, I would buy more today; but again, I'm recovering from a bankruptcy and foreclosure which will be the topic of my next post.

How does one turn around a life after that kind of defeat and disappointment?