If nothing else, I think we need some monetary conservation.  Right now the federal government is spending almost 2 1/2 times for interest on the national debt than it spends on transportation, education, and NASA put together.  Honestly, if MY bills looked like that, I wouldn't be paying for anything except gas to get to work and food to eat until it was knocked down a bit.  I might consider selling my possessions, or some bodily fluids.  I know, I know, there are some things that we can't cut spending to without creating more problems, but there isn't going to be an easy way out of this one.  It's gonna hurt. And the longer we wait, the more pain it's gonna be.