Money, It's A Gas....

President Obama said yesterday that America's financial situation is still "unacceptable," reports the New York Times. The President went on to comment: "[j]ust as it would be a terrible mistake to borrow against our children’s future to pay our way today, it would be equally wrong to neglect their future by failing to invest in areas that will determine our economic success in this new century."  

Yet - how do we determine the path to "economic success?" How will we know the "areas" to "invest in" and what does "investment" entail? How will we know when we are finally on a sound financial path in the United States? Is it akin to how the Supreme Court described pornography: that one will "know it when they see it?"  Such a thought is slightly unnerving.

I recently started listening to a NPR program called This American Life - an excellent radio hour from Chicago Public Radio that highlights unique American stories paralleling a different theme each week. The first program of the year was attempting to predict what 2010 would bring for the United States. Given the economic climate, the worsening situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the looming problem of climate change, there was plenty of prediction to be had - good or bad. 

One of the segments was on predicting the economic health of America, and whether it was a science, an art, or something that only a few minds in the world could understand. In the end, it was decided that, like most things we attempt to surmise about the future, economic prediction is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Astonishing.

When will America come to terms with the fact that being fiscally responsible is essential in order to maintain our relevance in the world? Yes - running a developed world power and managing the needs of millions of Americans is insanely expensive. However, the President is on point: the U.S.'s financial position is utterly unacceptable.

The band The Tallest Man on Earth's "Pistol Dreams": "Throw me in the fire now, come on/Throw me in the fire now, come on" 

We are in the fire; and the way we are throwing money away is only feeding it. The steps from realizing that a situation is less than ideal and changing it are many, but at least we are taking the first one.