Lots of people like to play Monopoly. One of the reasons is that you don't actually play with real money...when you're done playing, you sort the bills back into the box and go back to real life. Unfortunately, too many American politicians play Monopoly with real money.

Also unfortunately, that money isn't theirs...it belongs to us: We The People.

At this point in time, it's abundantly clear that the US government is filled with men and women who are financially irresponsible. They don't seem to mind spending money they don't have. When you and I spend money we don't have, it's called "debt". When we don't pay it back, it's called "fraud". When the government doesn't want to pay their debts on time, they borrow money to pay the debt.

The national debt is essentially made up of money that the US government borrowed and couldn't pay back...so they borrowed again to make the payments. If we did that, we'd be in serious financial trouble. Right? Why don't we think the same of the government? Easy: it's not ALL our money. At the end of the day, we spend what we have and don't think about the part that the government squandered.

When we fail to pay a debt, bill collectors hassle us until we decide to pay. Considering the fact that US citizens are the ones who produce the money the government needs, we need to hassle our leaders like the bill collectors we should be. Until those numbers above start going down, we'll continue to be in trouble.