Gushers

It occurs to me that the ongoing gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is a visual metaphor for the federal treasury, which leaks dollars at a rate that would have been beyond our imagination in previous years.

The late Republican Senator Everett Dirksen used to say: "A billion here, a billion there, after awhile you're talking REAL money!

How quaint that sounds in light of the TRILLIONS now leaking out of Uncle Sam's piggy bank.

Does this money really exist? Who's going to wind up paying the national debt? President Obama can lecture BP about profligate leaks of oil and the resultant leak of billions from the Gulf region economy. But what's going to happen when the exponential growth of the national debt catches up with all of us?

I am truly astounded to see prices for new cars that exceed what I paid for my first house! If there was anything valuable about the financial meltdown in America, it was the cold dose of reality that broke the fever of individuals who were on a debt binge. While individuals and families have become more frugal as a result, I fear the lesson has been lost on official Washington, still mired in a morass of insatiable and monstrous appetites for programs we can no longer afford.

While we put off the purchase of a new car, a vacation trip or re-modeling project, Congress continues to reach for the unaffordable. I think many average Americans get it now. Our grandparents knew what it was like to live in a Great Depression, where the next meal was seldom a certainty, let alone a good job or decent lifestyle. We have gotten soft in our own prosperity. A touch of prudence and patience would do none of us any harm.

At this point, our desires still exceed our reach. I've never been a pessimist (one who is rarely disappointed). But I think a little realism is in order, from The White House, to Capitol Hill, to Wall Street, Albany and Main Street.

This is still a nation of unlimited potential. But let's not be stupid about the next adventures and challenges we are to face.