Very sage advice. President Obama does have somewhat of a point. Under President Bush(and a democrat controlled Congress) spending escalated. Mr. Obama promised to control spending but like the author said instead of hitting the brakes he stomped on the gas. The Libertarians are correct on this issue. Freeze spending immediately, eliminated duplicative programs, reduce bloated government departments eliminating those who have outlived their usefulness, then implement a 0.5% reduction in the budget(using the last budget passed by the Senate as a baseline) each year for 10 successive years.

@ Joe, You are correct. Our problem has become professional politicians of both party's out to enrich themselves and their cronies at the taxpayer expense. We now have a Ruling Elite that under out present political/tax/media system continues to regenerate itself. Term limits, application of the same insider trading laws for Congress as the rest of us and institution of the FairTax would gut this perpetual feeding at the public trough by Orwell's pigs.

I agree we should take an HONEST look at how we got where we are today. 1. Bubba Clinton had a fairly conservative Republican Congress restraining his spending and he was smart enough to go with the flow. 2. Iraq was a Bush issue, Afghanistan was bipartisan 4. Final budgets do not come from the White House and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 until 2010 were Democrats 5. In 2008-09 they started their spending surge. Sen. Obama was strident in his demands to increase spending. Bush went along with this massive spending surge so deserves partial blame. 6. from2009-2010 the Dem's controlled all 3 branches Spending spiked massively! 7. Since 2010 Senate Dems have blocked 27 Bills related to spending reduction

@ Daniel, What you say is very true, with a bit of a caveat. While Bush 43 was indeed a Big Government republican the massive spending increase in his administration did not occur until the democrats took control of the House and Senate. Rejection of this massive, irresponsible spending and growth of the government bureaucracy is why many of us were for Herman Cain before he self destructed. Romney, Santorum and Gingrich represent different levels of Ruling Elite republicans( the Dole, McCain, Bush wing).

Is the topic too uncomfortable for you? Why do you feel the need to launch a series of vitriolic , off topic, partisan screeds?

Great article, it is waaay past time to make some serious reform in our political system. There has been a spate of news lately concerning how Congress has exempted themselves from insider trading laws. They pass legislation to favor corporations who contribute to their reelection and then trade stocks based on this legislation prior to the public becoming aware of the financial ramifications of the new laws. The two laws that would strangle this Corny Capitalism are 1. Term limits and 2. The FairTax. The Ruling Elites know these laws are to them what Raid is to cockroaches. That is why they so vehemently oppose them.

Chapman makes a strong case for the Ostrich of the Year Award. "those devices are probably no longer a danger" let's add Pakistan is probably, most likely, kinda, sorta never to allow the hard line Islamists to take total control of the government which includes the nukes and the arming codes and the ability to move them where ever in the hell they want to move them. Then let's add Iran who has NEVER aided terrorists ANYWHERE. Come on Steve, it isn't New Years Eve yet. Put down the bubbley and come back to rationality.

The energy answer is Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR). LFTR technology has been around for forty years and has none of the safety issues of uranium fueled BWR's. LFTR ‘s use molten salt coolant and are the safest, most cost-effective solution to near term and future energy needs in the U.S. The fuel salt does not burn in air or water, produce hydrogen or use pressurized steam so a Fukushima style plant explosion is impossible and it’s physically impossible for a LFTR to meltdown. They are modular, much smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, can be built offsite and shipped to existing coal fired plants replacing the existing boilers. They use existing infrastructure and there is enough Thorium to power us into the 23rd cen

There is a solution other than long term storage that meets the authors privatization concepts . America can use Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors to burn the nuclear waste producing massive amounts of electricity as a byproduct - a real WIN-WIN. Here is a link that explains the process in some detail. http://blogs.forbes.com/kirksorensen/2011/07/29/waste-digester-2/

@rpexplorer, Sorry, I can't help myself. Your point on the LFTR's ability to consume our existing nuclear waste is outstanding. Here is link from a blog piece Kirk Sorenson wrote about that very topic. It is actually a two part blog with the link to the first piece embedded in the second. http://blogs.forbes.com/kirksorensen/2011/07/29/waste-digester-2/ From American Scientist, july-august 2010: "Thorium is abundant, produces far less toxic fission products than uranium and may soon compete with coal for cost per kilowatt-hour. ..Molten salts trap fission products chemically, and react slowly or not at all in air… A molten core is meltdown-proof, so the worst possible accident would be a leak. In this case, the fuel salt can be safely