More than anything else, my objective in starting this thread was to get people thinking about the financial problems facing the country and begin to consider the alternatives available for their solution. Again, too few people posted a response, but I was heartened to see that as of Sunday night 356 people at least read the thread.

While there were some sincere responses by members committed to their beliefs, there were no members who actually responded with specific opinions or ideas to address the problem that our elected representatives will be facing in the days, weeks and months ahead. With only a few exceptions, it sounded like the sound bites we hear from our politicians on TV.

The U.S. has a $1.1 trillion budget shortfall staring at us in each of the next few years to come. HOW WILL WE FILL THAT GAP? It must come from cutting government spending, increasing revenue from taxes or borrowing more from the countries around the world who think we are creditworthy. This time, it will not be possible to "grow our way" out of the problem with some fine-tuning of monetary policy. Either the cutting of government-funded programs or an increase in taxes, or a combination of the two, will be lifestyle-changing events in our lives. Neither will be modest little tweaks. We will all be hurt -- that much is certain and inevitable. I would hope that we would have thought about the possibilities enough to have an opinion on which of a series of bad choices will be most acceptable to us.

It's pointless to recite the general principles and beliefs that we believe got the U.S. to where it is, what has worked, what will work and what won't work. Those types of things are important, of course, but cannot serve as the solution to the current financial mess. Non-specific flag-waving won't produce the plans needed to balance the budget. It has been that kind of rhetoric, with no specific plans following the words, that got us into the fix we're in now. We'll certainly see some of our elected representatives blathering on in the same way as they debate what to do in the weeks and months ahead. Hopefully, some of those we've sent to Washington can come up with some very specific plans for consideration by the Congress and the public.

If the financial problem we're facing is to be fixed, both the voters and their elected representatives must have some idea on what specific steps to take. What specific spending should be cut? How much will it save per year? Can we cut spending enough to fill the trillion dollar-plus shortfall in the coming years? If not, where will the money come from? Should we keep borrowing until no one will lend to us us any more? Should taxes be raised to fill the void? Taxes on what? Taxes on whom?

Until Americans begin to think about the specific alternatives with some precision, how are we to understand what our government is doing? Until we have an informed opinion on what we're willing to live without and what things government provides that we believe are basic to our lives -- and how much we're willing to pay for them -- how will we ever be satisfied with the result of the governance of our country?