My Reality Show: Living Within a Budget
Congress has appropriated $62.3 billion in relief to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Cato Institute suggested that $62 billion be cut from various programs such as subsidies to farmers, energy research and airports as well as reductions in the amounts allocated to foreign aid, NASA and the Bureau of Indian affairs. Whether or not one agrees with the cuts the Cato Institute proposes, most people agree that some federal budget cuts must be made to offset the relief money. Unlike the average American, Congress does not believe in reducing unnecessary spending when a large, unexpected expenditure is made. Most members of Congress have lost touch with the lives of average people to the point at which the concept of living within a budget is alien to them.
Here is a reality show concept: A few Senators and Representatives would be featured each season. The President could also be a contestant since he has never vetoed any spending bills. They would have to live in average homes on average incomes for a month. This would be an adjustment for many who have other income in addition to their hardly penurious salaries. Contestants won’t be removed from the show because living with consequences of irresponsible spending is the point. The winner would be the contestant who manages to stay within his/her budget. There is a possibility that no contestant wins.
The primary purpose of the show will be for contestants to budget their living expenses. In the first episode, each contestant will be given a check for an amount equivalent to two weeks pay at the median income for the state in which he or she resides during the contest. No withholding will be taken. Instead, as soon as each contestant receives his/her paycheck, he/she must pay out the amounts required for Social Security, Medicare, federal and state taxes. This will give our elected officials a better idea of how much we really pay in taxes. The process will be repeated two weeks later with the next paycheck.
Contestants will be situated in houses that middle class people typically own. They will have to pay all of their living expenses from their median income paychecks. The costs of housing, utilities, insurance, etc. will be adjusted to the percentage of income most Americans spend on these items. A reality of the show will be that the producers can cut off contestants’ utilities or evict them if they don’t pay utility or rent bills on time. Payment deadlines will be shortened to fit the month-long show. Contestants must then budget how much can be spent on food, transportation, entertainment and extras. Contestants will be monitored at all times to insure that they do not cheat by using money from personal funds to cover shortfalls in their budgeting.
The second purpose of the show would be to see how well members of Congress are able to cope with the daily lives of ordinary citizens. Therefore, another reality the contestants will face is that they will continue to work at their jobs for the duration of the show. Interns, secretaries, assistants and other minions will be restricted to only helping contestants with job related tasks.
No servants of any kind will be permitted. As do many reality shows do, this one will have tasks such as mowing the lawn, cooking meals, doing laundry, returning an item to a store, balancing a checkbook and putting together a piece of assemble-it-yourself furniture. Self-help books and websites would be permitted but requests for advice from contestants’ gardeners, housekeepers, cooks, mothers, assistants, etc. would be forbidden. Performing daily chores without help is reality for most people. Is it part of day to day reality for most senators and representatives?
Would it be too bold to hope that Congress would be more fiscally responsible if its members had a reminder of what a limited personal or family budget is like? Dare we dream that bills and laws including the tax code would be briefer if our representatives had the same chores and time constraints average people have?
The reality show idea is a fantasy. No member of Congress would volunteer for such a contest. Picturing such things as Senator Mary Landrieu mowing a lawn, John Kerry assembling an Ikea bookcase and Senator Ted Kennedy trying to balance his checkbook is good for a laugh. Making our Senators and Representatives live their personal lives on limited budgets may be the stuff of fantasy, but the fact that they will eventually be up for re-election is a reality. The one thing each of us can do is contact our representatives and senators to demand that some pork be removed from the budget to offset the $62.3 billion appropriated for hurricane relief. We must remind our representatives that our nation’s debts will eventually be due and that is no laughing matter.
Copyright Eva Ellsworth, 09/18/05, all rights reserved
To Contact Your Representative: http://www.house.gov/ or 202-224-3121
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