Everyone should be _¶ nancially responsible

A few months ago Esquire magazine ran an introspective piece about a cynic's view of the upcoming presidential elections. What made this article all the more ironic was that it was buried underneath a cover photo of Obama as a prophetic savior.

We've come to think of modern politics as the antidote to our ills. Whether it's health care or affordable housing or Wall Street bailouts great leaders arise to fix our problems. Or that's the narrative we've come to learn from our history books.

When you stop to think of it the notion of others solving problems that are inherently ours to begin with misses the point. We've got to reform ourselves first and foremost before we start asking others to fix our problems.

We have a national debt in the trillions of dollars. Yes that's 13 zeros for the non-math majors.

If the United States federal government were a private bank then it'd probably be bankrupt by now. The only reason we keep humming along is because foreigners keep buying up our debt. To use the lingua franca of this week's headlines they keep bailing us out.

If that doesn't shock you then how about realizing that in 2010 according to census data each young adult aged 18 to 44 will owe approximately $88000 of national debt. If you divide $10 trillion by the number of young people then you'll arrive at 88 Gs. Considering we'll be the ones entering the workforce it's not an exaggeration to assume that we'll be the ones taking ownership of this debt.

Let's think about that fact one more time. That's enough for every young person to own a Mercedes SLK300 and have about an additional $40000 to finance their undergraduate education.

We've grown up in a consumer-driven society that rewards instant gratification. We've learned to live on borrowed money.

In the words of Ralph Byrns a UNC economics professor" ""That bumper sticker that pensioners place on their SUVs about ‘We're out spending our children's inheritance' is" unfortunately" true.""

The Chinese and all of Asia understand this point better than we do. They now save ridiculous amounts of their income and we don't. We keep hearing politicians bemoan the Chinese and others for owning our debt. Yet no major political figure berates Americans for living beyond their means.

It's time we learned what shared sacrifice really means. Unless we fundamentally learn to save money like our grandparents did" then we are doomed to live in a bankrupt future.

Sixty years ago we as a nation learned what shared sacrifice meant. During World War II we saved our hard-earned dollars and bought war bonds. The government instituted a rationing system. In those dark days the spirit of the American people shined through. Our grandparents lived to see six decades of an unprecedented economic boom.

This country needs some penitence. It's time we heard some tough love from Obama and McCain. No more rosy pie in the sky estimates. Whoever gets elected will face some of the most difficult challenges this country has faced since the Great Depression.

To think that our votes this coming November will instantly solve our problems is to suffer from amnesia. Not only should we vote but dramatically reform our daily lives. No more gas guzzling SUVs or luxury items. It's time we took a line-item veto to our own lives.