These should be heady times for people concerned about government spending. For some time, they have been warning anyone who would listen that America faces economic catastrophe unless government spending is brought under control.
The Nov. 2 election results have been taken as evidence that the message finally is getting through. Voters appear to be fed up with politicians who spend as if there were no tomorrow.
But here's the rub: If history is any guide, Congress is unlikely to take the hint.
Consider the controversy that erupted recently when Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairmen of the president's bipartisan deficit-reduction commission, dared to put Social Security cutbacks on the table for consideration. The negative response did not go unnoticed in on Capitol Hill.
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party has ever shown much desire to address the problem of ever-increasing government, in part because they would pay a political penalty if they did.
Certain big-ticket programs still retain considerable support from people who have no idea of their costs. That's especially true of those out-of-control "entitlement" programs, Social Security and Medicare.
The challenge now is to help the American people understand that their future -- and that of their children and grandchildren -- depends upon their willingness to rein in these beloved programs which the nation simply cannot afford.
Despite the election, politicians of both parties will be looking to seize the first opportunity to relapse into business as usual. That first opportunity may come Dec. 1, when the deficit-reduction commission delivers its recommendations.
If the public reacts negatively, Congress will take the hint and beat its usual retreat from this perennially toxic issue.
How can the public be brought around? The answer is education -- but not the kind of education that is delivered via lectures from on high.
Citing abstract statistics about insupportable debt levels has little impact on people whose eyes glaze over at the sight of anything resembling statistics. But if they could see how much they personally will have to pay in taxes to support these out-of-control programs, that would get their attention.
Well, now there's an app for that. During the past few months, economists Laurence J. Kotlikoff of Boston University, Thomas R. Saving of Texas A&M University, and I (of Fayetteville State University) have been working with information technology developers at the California-based PJ Institute to develop a Web-based application we have dubbed the Personal Financial Impact Projector.
Now, instead of contemplating this problem in the abstract, people can log in to the PFI tool and plug themselves into the equation, to get an idea of what their tab (or their children's tab) will amount to as federal spending spirals ever upward.
The PFI Projector also provides a feedback mechanism -- a virtual Solution Design Center where people can develop solutions based on what they have learned and share their recommendations with others.
The PFI Projector lets people adjust the equation by cutting back on various programs to demonstrate how fiscal restraint would lessen the ruinous impact on their wallets.
That last step is crucial, because the politicians need to have their feet held to the fire on this issue. This election aftermath constitutes a teachable moment that should be seized before the momentum fades. Otherwise, government will satisfy itself with relatively minor trims -- or worse, no trims at all -- and the opportunity will slip away.
