Why aren't there more elected leaders with the common sense of Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor? Last week she said...

"Not spending more than you collect--it's astonishing that this simple fact leads to such debates."

Geez, that's how almost every family in America runs it's household budget. It's not exactly high finance. Maybe that's why Germany is one of the fiscally-soundest countries in the world. Failure to follow this simple rule is also why the U.S. is headed for the financial cliff.

Maybe our elected leaders aren't as smart as either Merkel or most of the American heads of households who manage their budgets.

But I guess we knew that, didn't we?