The US government debt debate matters to everyone but especially to generations unborn and those worried about the near future. The $36 trillion or so of red ink—and that is the government’s self-assessed number that I believe is based on questionable accounting standards—should frighten everyone who has any wealth in dollars or who cares about his or her children. That’s because governments can and have gone broke, unleashing painful long-term inflation.

Given the current official numbers—interest, just interest, on the federal debt—is now the third biggest item in how the government spends our money. Let’s personalize it. Imagine you are on the hook for a mortgage from hell. It’s so big you can never get at the principal. It is more than a mortgage. It is a financial albatross that you and your scions can never escape. Your relatives and your friends—amazed by your spending negligence—would probably think you’re a financial illiterate, a spending addict who should be put under the supervision of a court.

History warns us that owing to a spending addiction or stupidity we are headed down a perilous path. That is, unless strong medicine is administered to the chronic spenders of both parties. It is they—who over the last three or generations or so—have been driving high speed down the road to bankruptcy. I exempt our grandparents who fought World War II. They started to reduce the red ink for a short period after the war before the welfare-warfare took hold and both parties gave up on any rational spending plans….

Yet Britain, Spain and Austria had once been wealthy countries. What happened? The same thing that’s happened to other countries and to celebrities who ran out of geld (money). They spent themselves into bankruptcy. Now the United States is headed down the road taken by Spain, the Habsburgs, and the British empire. Will someone hit the brakes?