LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A Fox News poll reveals that most Americans feel the national debt is an immediate problem. Fifty-four percent of self-identified Democrats said it was a problem and eighty-three percent of Republicans also said so. Those with college degrees were also more likely to claim it was a problem.

Those who did not say it was an immediate problem still said it would have to be addressed several years down the road, and only single digit percentages in each category said it was not a problem at all.

Perhaps revealing how out of touch they are with the public, both President Obama and his personal friend and Republican, John Boehner, have said the debt isn't a problem.

With taxes on the rise and the economy in slow, fragile recovery, Americans are yearning for a restoration of hope and responsibility in government. Neither seems forthcoming.

President Obama is still unwilling to agree to any significant spending cuts and Republicans appear unable to force him into fiscal responsibility. This means that the tax burden on individuals and businesses will increase in the years ahead as a ballooning national debt comes due.

It is true that not all debt is bad debt. Debt which provides greater returns in profits is generally regarded as good debt, whereas debt that simply snowballs and costs more than it returns is a bad investment. This isn't advanced economics, it's lemonade-stand logic that any youngster can grasp.

While these politicians are telling the us how wrong we are as citizens to think the debt is a problem, they're living a comfortable life with private healthcare, transportation, lodgings, expense accounts, armed security, and more. It was recently disclosed that President Obama sends as much as $1.2 billion per year to support his private life and family.

The root of the problem of course, is that we, as Americans, repeatedly elect these officials and permit them to raise our taxes to finance their extravagant lifestyles which are chiefly comprised of making laws that we either don't need or would rather not have, or that are typically bad ideas anyway. Very little of their work as legislators genuinely makes life better for the middle-class American citizen.

It should be a priority to see those who think drunken fiscal irresponsibility isn't a problem dismissed from office--before they can take another opportunity to tell you that you don't know what you're talking about when you criticize their habits.

Of course, if we do not do so after displays like these, then perhaps we are fools after all.

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