Reality check ... maybe soon

It's a potent two-word combination. I wonder whether people honor it or abhor it. Both, it seems.

Is the United States government financially viable? The state of Minnesota? The many households that approach bankruptcy every year? What are the looming consequences?

Insolvency can be put off. Ask any Ponzi scheme operator. You just need to find a few more suckers. The next loan. More government binge borrowing. But as Bernard Madoff or Tom Petters know, a day of reckoning is inevitable. That day may be coming soon for the U.S. government, sinking into a quagmire of debt. The state of Minnesota, facing a huge budget shortfall, still has options, and a constitution that demands sounder financial practices.

As for those households, they are reflected in many of their leaders. They live in a world of unreality, where "financially viable" is considered a nuisance, not a hard fact. Hysteria, desperation and anger pervade this thinking.

The cure? See that pesky two-word combo. In the end, all the bills must be paid. And that shining fact wipes away all others.