We have slid so far away from prudent financial management at every level of government, that it will take acute discipline, and determination to correct these problems. The current financial dilemma we now find ourselves in did not happen overnight, thus we should not expect, nor would it necessarily be a good thing, to expect that a "quick fix" combination of bailout and stimulus will right the sunken ship of state and finance. One thing is certain, the more government involves itself in "the fix," ultimately the more that involvement will exascerbate the problem.

Many of us have heard about the $3.6 trillion dollar budget that is being proposed in congress by the Obama administration. One which taxes way too much, and borrows even more during these financial difficult times. This budget is fueled by massive government deficit spending and wealth redistribution, and is non-sustainable given the financial crisis, and will only result in higher taxes at a time when taxes should be lowered and not raised. It is never wise to raise taxes during a recession.

Americans know this budget spends too much, that the spending figures are simply staggering, and that much of that spending is borrowed money. What this means is that in the middle of a recession, when most Americans are rushing to pay down their credit cards, this budget does the exact opposite: it runs up the national credit card to an extent that we have never seen in our nation’s history.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the administration’s projections were extremely optimistic. The CBO said that based on its projections, the budget would increase the deficit by $2.3 trillion more over 10 years than the administration initially claimed. Now keep in mind that the total deficit from last year was $459 billion, a record high figure at the time that just a few months ago everyone agreed was too high for comfort. What we heard from the CBO is that the discrepancy between the administration’s budget estimates and the CBO estimates of a deficit over 10 years was more than four times the previous record annual budget deficit.

So the administration is asking us to borrow an astonishing amount of money. So much so, in fact, that if we were to pass this budget as it is, the federal government in just four years will have to spend one out of every eight dollars it receives in tax dollars just to make the interest payments on its debt. Of course, as debt piles up it only becomes harder to pay down. And under this budget, the debt piles up even more quickly than it’s piled up in recent months as a result of all the spending and bailouts.

This is the time where we need to be working on plans that can reduce the budget deficit to more manageable levels, not to increase the dangerous levels that currently exist. The Bush administration legacy left us with an increased debt that was not even imaginable just a few years ago. We need to restore the financial health of this nation, so that we can continue to project our strength around the world.