Providing the finances to keep the U.S. government running according to current spending patterns and priorities means imposing lots of taxes -- and borrowing lots of money on top of that.
With our government threatened with running out of money to pay its bills unless new appropriations were approved, the U.S. House of Representatives voted this week -- with only about 10 minutes of debate -- to OK a measure to keep the government going.
The Senate had passed the bill a week earlier.
But while it was a relief that a government shutdown was averted, it does not answer a fundamental question: Just how much money do we need, from taxes and borrowing, to run our government properly, wisely and efficiently?
The vote Tuesday was for short-term financing of government -- through mid-November. But there should be careful, sound, long-term decisions about how much of the public's money the federal government requires to carry out its necessary, constitutional functions.
Our national debt is already about $14.8 trillion -- and rising rapidly. This year's deficit alone will add well over $1 trillion to the huge debt.
Yet any proposals for reining in spending -- such as proposals that will come from the current "super committee" in Congress -- are unlikely to yield the major cuts necessary to restore fiscal sanity.
How responsibly do you believe President Barack Obama and Congress are handling federal spending, taxes and debt?
Considering our nation's vast spending, high taxes and explosive debt, we're afraid that question has a painfully obvious answer.