We'll Pay for Years To Get the Red Out

The $3.8 trillion federal budget that President Barack Obama released Monday isn't merely ugly. It's irresponsible.

Even by the administration's reckoning, and it may well be on the rosy side, the budget deficit will swell to $1.56 trillion by the end of this year. Next year's deficit is expected to land at $1.3 trillion. Even with the lower figure, the government still would have to borrow $1 of every $3 it spends.

The numbers aren't expected to get much better as time wears on. Despite the president's hopes of cutting $1 trillion in spending by 2020, the United States still is projected to run up $8.5 trillion in combined deficits this decade. By comparison, over the first 219 years of the country's history, from 1789 to 2008, the federal government racked up a total debt of $5.8 trillion.

The nation simply can't stay on this path and expect to prosper in the years ahead. The effects of the staggering debt will significantly slow economic growth, force interest rates to rise and reduce job creation.

To be clear the problem didn't originate with Barack Obama or the current congressional leadership.

It's a bipartisan disaster, one built over decades. But it's up to current officeholders from both major parties to finally confront the challenge.

That won't be easy with a Congress that is largely dysfunctional and with a White House that has made clear that it has higher priorities.

None of the Washington insiders — including Blue Dog Democrats (Baron Hill and Joe Donnelly), House Republicans (Mike Pence and Mark Souder), Senate moderates (Evan Bayh) — has much credibility left on the issue. Which is why voters even in the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts turned to an outsider, Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, in hopes of sending an unmistakable message that politics as usual is no longer tolerable.

Leaders from both parties would be wise to listen, not just for the sake of their political careers, but also for the nation's future.

The fiscal problems facing the nation are large and complex, and no one selling easy answers should be given much credence. But the nation's leaders, starting with the president, must begin to deal forcefully with the challenges now, before another generation of Americans is crushed with mountains of debt.

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