Q: What is your greatest concern for America's financial future?

A: On a national basis, the two worries that rise to the top of my list (among many others) are the twin dangers of our growing dependence on imported oil and on imported money to fund government spending. Even worse, we import both from countries that are not our friends. Here's a quick look at the basics of each situation.

Almost every year, the U.S. government spends far more than it takes in through tax revenues. In the fiscal year just ended, our government spent about $1.8 trillion more than it collected -- a record budget deficit. The sum total of all our deficits, going back through the years, is our national debt. It is approaching $8 trillion dollars. That's money we borrow by selling IOUs -- Treasury bills, notes and bonds.

The real problem with all that debt is that 47 percent of it is owed to foreigners! Nearly half our debt is owned by foreign central banks, including China -- one of our largest creditors. They have lots of dollars -- money we've sent to them as we purchased their consumer goods. So far, the Chinese and others have been willing to lend us money, buying our Treasury bills, notes and bonds, at the current very low interest rates. But what happens when they see the U.S. is also creating more dollars -- inflation -- to help pay its bills?

At some point, those lenders are going to suggest that they would like higher interest rates -- or some other important concessions -- in order to keep lending us money to finance our government spending.

And that will be a critical moment -- when our lenders start making demands! We give away our future freedoms when we grow indebted to those who do not necessarily have our best interests at heart.

The second great dependency is on imported oil. The statistics are frightening. In the United States, we use 21 million barrels of oil a day. Of that amount, 13 million barrels are imported. In fact, the United States, with only 4 percent of the world's population, uses 25 percent of the global supply each day!

This huge financial issue came into focus recently when I heard legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens speak about our vulnerability. Before you jump to the conclusion that the view of an "oilman" might be self-serving, the reality is quite the opposite. Continued...