Fiscal responsibility, coming to a government near you

I'm impressed. I really didn't think the U.S. House of Representatives had the guts to reject the bailout plan.

It's about time.

Look, I don't know what the consequences will be if we don't throw a trillion dollars at Wall Street, but I do know this: every major initiative of the 21^st century has come out of the pockets of our children, our grandchildren, and their children. Iraq War? No sacrifice needed, because we won't have to pay for it, they will. Just keep spending, please, to keep the economy running full speed ahead. Want to go to Mars? Put it on MasterCard and worry about it tomorrow.

Maybe ten years of economic hardship will serve to remind us that debt exacts a heavy price.

Or, maybe it'll forever wreck our standing as preeminent power in the world, because the foreign credit that we've been using to pay our way will dry up.

But either way, I don't think our grandchildren will thank us. That ship has sailed.