That question was asked by Obama's Chief Economic Adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, one year ago.  It's a question worth asking, because America's skyrocketing deficits will eventually have a global political impact. This is a chilling wake up call for those who believe arrogantly that the U.S is immune to the bankruptcies of empires in the pages of our history books.

The coming year's projected deficit (not the national debt -- just this year's deficit) is about 11% of the country's economic output. Meanwhile, deficits are not anticipated to return to sustainable levels over the next decade but to increase by 2019 or 2020 by about 5% of the gross domestic product.

The Chinese -- who hold so much of our national debt -- see the inevitable demise over the course of the next decade or so, and so do our European allies.

Even so, Obama still included an Afghan surge of 30,000 troops at a time when he himself admits that we cannot afford to stay longer. "'Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power,' he told cadets at West Point. 'It pays for our military. It underwrites our diplomacy. It taps the potential of our people, and allows investment in new industry.'"

Then he further explains that why our military commitment in Afghanistan could not last for long: "That’s why our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended, because the nation that I’m most interested in building is our own.”

Well, no duh. That should be his primary ambition. After all, he did run for the President of the U.S -- not President of the entire world.

However, let's not let Obama get all the blame. After all, George Bush did promise that he would leave his term with a balanced budget -- which was far from the truth.

Either way, whether you are progressive, conservative, independent, or something else entirely, it is foolish to attempt to deny the fact that if we do continue to spend/borrow and grow government the way we continue to do so, our future will be grim.