The federal government owns $14 trillion dollars of debt, and it is growing daily. By some accounts, the state of Illinois owes some $12 billion to companies and people with whom it does business. Will our governments—national, state and even local—make the necessary budget cuts needed to allow them to spend within our means?

Paul does not think so. Like so many people, he is skeptical whether politicians in government can make the difficult decisions that will right our financial ship. Retired and living on a fixed income, Paul is sensitive to tax incomes and benefit cuts.

“Politicians are incentivized to keep spending since they don't have to raise taxes or cut government programs,” Paul has said on several occasions. “If they did either, it would upset the constituents they represent and hurt their chances of being reelected. Instead of making difficult decisions and being accountable, they borrow more money.”

“I agree with Paul,” his wife Mary would interject, “but, people are getting hurt when the programs they depend on are being cut.”

Paul often liked to say that America is maxing out its credit card, and that we can't spend our way out of debt and a financial recession. Continuing to borrow and spend doesn't make any sense. America is only prolonging the problem and making it worse. One day all the bills will come due, probably at a higher interest rate.

It's interesting to me that Mary wants so badly to support the views of her husband. She believes that he is right. Deep down, however, she is agonizing about the human cost her husband's views will incur as government employees are laid off, programs for low-income people are cut, and education is short-changed.

Paul thinks it is time to let the market naturally correct itself and move away from having government intervention. The sooner this happens, he has said, the less severe the correction and the better off we will be in the end.

Paul and Mary were notified recently that they will no longer be eligible for the Illinois Cares Rx prescription drug program supplement from the state of Illinois. They were not happy that the state had reduced the income guidelines for this very popular program.

A good lesson can be learned from this. As Americans, we have an obligation to live within our means. History shows us repeatedly that when we fail to live within our means we will meet the same disastrous fates as the ones before us who did likewise.

However, we need to be careful about what we wish for, as it often comes with unexpected consequences. Unfortunately, almost no one is immune from them.

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