Defining the problem correctly is the first step in solving any problem. It’s here, at step one, where we’re already failing in how we’re thinking about our nation’s fiscal crisis. Despite the fact that we’re talking about an out-of-control federal budget, the problem at its root is not a budget problem. It’s a cultural problem that reflects poor decisions we’re making about how we use our valuable resources. Until we come to terms with this, these problems are not going to get solved and will only get worse. If a friend of yours was constantly broke because he spends his paycheck on beer and lottery tickets, you wouldn’t tell him he’s got a budget problem. You’d tell him he has a personality problem.

No different with the nation. The fiscal and economic black hole into which we are being sucked reflects bad thinking and bad decisions.