Just imagine you and everyone in your family were addicted to very dangerous drugs, and the effects were starting to wear off. Your father and mother made the decision to go out and get more, borrowing the money from the local drug dealer, rather than encouraging you to come down safely from your dangerous high.

The US Congress today decided to pass out drugs in the form of rebate checks intended to stimulate wasteful and wanton spending to boost the economy. We are addicted to shopping for meaningless stuff and we have become helpless in making things ourselves. The little common sense we have tells us not to take on additional debt, but the US House of Representatives and Senate are taking matters out of our hands and plunging us all deeper in the hole despite our best judgment. The effects of our addiction make us weak-willed and powerless to resist. So rather than encouraging us to come down from the drug induced high and re-engage in hands-on reality, the US Congress has decided to borrow money from our future (and from our Chinese drug dealer) to give us all one more fix.

They do this without having any long term plans for correction, or recovery. As I've stated before, we are a nation of idiots. Now lift your hands from the keyboard or mouse. Examine them closely. They do have the power to bring change. Tonight I'm baking potatoes, steaming carrots and broccoli, and making a salad. In a very small way, we each take the future in our hands.