I'm not crying wolf. That expression from Aesop's Fables means to raise a false alarm. There is no false alarm, there is only the gut punch of reality. Our country is on the brink of an economic collapse (Happy Thanksgiving!), and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) explains why in his statements following the "Supercommittee's" failure to reach a deficit reduction agreement last week:

Last week, our nation's debt surpassed the $15 trillion mark, and it continues to grow by approximately $100 billion a month. Add in the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare, and federal pensions, and our nation's total liabilities equal $99 trillion ($321,000 per person). When you consider the fact that our $99 trillion liability exceeds the entire net asset base of the United States ($78 trillion), it is easy to see how bad things are.

Unfortunately, Washington has failed to deal with this by resorting to another round of secret meetings and a ‘special committee.’ I was skeptical of the process from the start, but to encourage success, I submitted to the committee a list of savings totaling $1.4 trillion. Reducing the rate of growth in government spending should not be this hard.

We need economic growth and real leadership - something that has been absent from Washington for far too long. America is facing a financial emergency. It is way past time for us to start acting like it.

Rather than gloss over those numbers, because our congress is very effective at tossing out numbers so large we tune out, let me point out a few things.

The nation's debt is increasing by $100 Billion each month. From what? Why are we spending 100 Billion more every month from the previous month? What would happen if you added to your personal debt every month, without increasing your income?

Unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and federal pensions is simple to understand. It's what we know we will have to pay for some day, but we haven't started paying for yet, nor do we have a plan in place for how we will cover those costs. Read: the massive numbers of Baby Boomers who have begun to retire and the massive number of government workers (the only real job increases since Obama took office) who will receive benefits for the rest of their lives.

Our total liabilities today equals $99 trillion, which means your portion of that debt is $321,000 (congratulations). But more striking than this debt-you-never-knew-you-had is that this $99 trillion liability exceeds the entire net asset base of the United States ($78 trillion). Here is what net asset base means: if we were to gather together everything of value in America today-- businesses, land, homes, things, and say, sold them to China who came a-knocking, everything would be worth $78 trillion. Huh. That's less than our total liabilities. A lot less. $21 trillion less. What we have to pay for is LESS than what assets currently exist in America. (But taxing the rich will fix everything? I digress...)

Our congressmen are not stupid. Our President is not, either. They have seen the numbers. And yet they continue to add to our debt with as much consideration as a creep who steals Bill Gate's debit card. Want to build a $65 million streetcar that travels in a 2-mile loop through downtown Milwaukee? Sure. Should the Internal Revenue Service deliver $112 million in undeserved tax refunds to prisoners who filed fraudulent returns? Absolutely. Want to require taxpayers to cover 100% of the cost of public school teachers' pensions-- because, after all, they cannot set aside any of their own paycheck to do so? Perfect.

Why is our government spending money we don't have? It is not by accident, ignorance or passivity. It is a calculated attempt to redefine our way of life and fundamentally transform America (Campaigner Obama circa 2008).

In a way, the Occupy Wall Street protesters who are camping out and sharing diseases in the name of bringing "awareness" to the unfair and shackling amount of college debt they carry are right on. Yes, debt sucks. Debt is dangerous. Debt can ruin your opportunities and ruin your future. Now take this bar of soap, march on down to D.C., and have at it.

No need to cry wolf here. The numbers speak for themselves.

This is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering... And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.
-- Thomas Jefferson

Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, hosted an award winning PBS television series in the 1980s called Free to Choose. In the series, Milton discusses the principles of personal, political and economic freedom.

Milton and his wife Rose published a book by the same name, which was the bestselling non-fiction book of 1980. Rose Friedman wrote in her memoir, Two Lucky People, why the idea of freedom motivated them to create the series:

Milton and I have spent much of our life trying to persuade our fellow men and women of the dangers of an intrusive government and the key role that a free competitive economy plays in making a free society possible. Bringing these ideas to the large audience that a television documentary could attract excited us.

You can watch many episodes online (reproduced in 1990), and after watching the first episode titled “The Power of the Market,” you see the importance of operating a life—a country—on principles (and you see Arnold Schwarzenegger, pre-governor, espouse the glories of a limited government).

During the closing 10 minutes of the episode, David Brooks, Wall Street Journal columnist, and James Galbraith, Professor at the University of Texas, discuss what role a government should play in the free market. What is the perfect mix for a prosperous nation?

In one exchange, James Galbraith claims the best form of government is one that steps in to help the “have not’s” who lose in the game of capitalism. It is the responsibility of a rich nation to help those who are no as lucky, or as skilled, as those who have. Sound familiar?

Milton’s response eerily exemplifies the thorn in the side of the Obama Administration: the role of U.S. government should be limited to protecting its citizens and providing a strict set of laws that allow dishonesty and dangerous acts to receive justice, which in turn, further protects those citizens. The only difference between a communist government and the 20th century American government, Milton says, is that “China’s government has gone 100% and we are only at 50%.”

Creeping compassion, the kind OWS and Professor Galbraith celebrate, will in the end create the opposite of compassion—which is no secret to those who take the time to know history. I encourage you to learn from Friedman. Watch the episodes.

Not only can you watch the television series, but you can check out Free to Choose Media, an organization with a mission to “translate serious scholarship into widely understood rhetoric and icons.” The challenge Free to Choose Media has undertaken is “to become much more effective story tellers, thus making economic and political concepts accessible to all citizens.” Some of their productions include “Free or Equal,” “The Lesson of 1623” and “Volunteer Military.”