Our nation’s founders believed in certain core values that have served as the foundation upon which this great country has survived and thrived – prudence, thrift, limited debt, savings and stewardship. However, in the last several decades, our country and many of its citizens have strayed off course. Our future is now at risk. If we do not address the huge structural debt we face and re-order our nation’s finances, our position as a world leader and our overall standard of living is in jeopardy.

Our policymakers can address our fiscal challenges in a pre-emptive prudent manner OR they can wait for a crisis to provide political cover. Clearly, the preferred choice would be to put our fiscal house in order now, but this will require reasonable compromise and a healthy dose of political courage.

When you combine all our known liabilities with our various commitments, contingencies and unfunded debt, as of September 3, 2010 the U.S. was in a $61 trillion hole! That amounts to over $200,000 per person and over $500,000 per household. Contrast this with an annual median household income in America of about $50,000.

From a comparative standpoint, the U.S. now ranks 28th out of 34 for major nations in fiscal responsibility and sustainability, according to the recent Standard University Sovereign Fiscal Responsibility Index, which is essentially a fiscal fitness index.

It is time for our policymakers to design and implement a plan that will allow the U.S. and its people to move into a better fiscal neighborhood for our collective future.

Information for the preceding was taken from a report published by keepingamericagreat.org