Yesterday President Obama created a bipartisan commission to address the ticking bomb of the United States' national debt. The co-chairs of the commission are former Republican Senator Alan Simpson and former chief of staff under President Clinton, Erskine Bowles.
I cannot recommend enough that you take seven minutes to listen to the NPR Melissa Block interview with Simpson and Bowles. Don't just read the article, make sure you listen to the audio, too. Go get em Simpson!
I'll be watching for the commission's website and news of its findings. We truly have a difficult road ahead of us in the United States when it comes to our fiscal situation. This is a do or die scenario, though. Either we get our finances in order or else generations suffer, bad.
Let me just add that the response of average folk like you and me should not be extreme. I heard Wendell Berry tell a joke once about a Kentuckian who was digging a huge hole. Another person came along and asked what he was digging it for, to which the first guy responded, "This is where I'm gonna put all the sons o' bitches." The second guy thought about it for a minute then asked, "So who's gonna bury 'em?"
We're all in this mess together -- you, me, our friends, bankers, politicians, and even radio talk show hosts. Virtues, beginning with humility and charity, are the tools we'll need to solve this problem.
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