One of the lessons Americans should have learned from last year's financial meltdown is that economic principles can be ignored for only so long. The value of stocks, houses and retirement portfolios doesn't always go up. The unaffordable is unaffordable no matter how attractive it appears. And debt comes at a high cost that eventually must be repaid.

Unfortunately, it seems that the nation's political leaders haven't been paying attention.

The numbers within the final version o ...

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