Some might say I “preach” when it comes to our fiscal situation in this country. They’d be right. Fiscal prudence is absent in Washington today; more needs to be said, not less. Bonkers isn’t too strong a word to describe what has become a mess. You don’t run up a $37 trillion debt without decades of bad decisions from both sides of the aisle.
Candidly, Americans aren’t exactly models of financial discipline either. Household debt reached more than $18 trillion by the end of Q2 2025. The average household debt was $105,056 in 2024, a 13% jump since 2020. Average household credit card balances stood at $6,371 in early 2025. And that’s without even touching the depressing state of retirement savings or emergency savings rates. Spoiler: they are less than ideal.
Context established, now back to the looming government shutdown… Republicans are calling it the “Schumer Shutdown.” Democrats say they’re defending healthcare and paint Republicans as the villains. Both sides point fingers – both sides are guilty. Just as God searched for ten righteous men in Sodom, He’d struggle to find even ten fiscally responsible members of Congress today.
Here’s why Americans’ personal finances matter: we’re part of the problem. You, me, your barber, the mailman, the neighbors – we’ve largely failed to be good stewards of our own money. Some of us are fiscal hawks, but most of us either don’t know better or don’t care. Personal finance isn’t taught widely in schools. Too many learn only by making painful mistakes. Those mistakes sometimes carry lasting consequence. Sadly, we often make the same mistakes over and over never to escape the pit.
If we can’t hold ourselves accountable and practice good fiscal discipline, is it any wonder we don’t hold Congress accountable? Consider this: the last time Congress passed all 12 appropriations bills on time was 1996 – for fiscal year 1997. That’s 29 years of failure, and we’ve let them slide. Zero consequence.
Ask yourself: if your boss let you shirk your job for nearly three decades, would you worry about finally being called out in year 30? Of course not. Congress is only truly scared by the sting of political death – losing re-election. They’re betting that will never happen, so no worries going with status quo.
Until Americans decide enough is enough, until we hold representatives collectively accountable for failure after failure – budgeting disasters piled on deficit after deficit driving up the debt – nothing will change.
So yes, all Americans share responsibility for what we see today. Shame on Congress – a clean CR is the best way forward and we shouldn’t be here. But shame on us too – we’ve allowed it for far too long.
Is this time, “enough?” I’m afraid it probably isn’t.