The above story has been making the rounds -- at least among the Democrats. The Republicans could care less. And why should they? Deficits don't matter (unless you're long the dollar).

To say that Bush has been a fiscal disaster would be an insult to good hearted disasters. The bottom line is Bush and his war have done nothing except endanger the fiscal health of future US generations.

Let's go over the basic facts -- again, for those of you playing along at home. Bush inherited a budget surplus. And he went right back to the Regan school of economics: cut taxes for the rich and mire the country in debt.

Here's a chart of federal receipts and expenditures going back to 1990. Expenditures are in blue and receipts are in red.

Notice a trend? Someone isn't balancing the books.

And before you say, "the budget is balanced" notice the amount of debt the government is issuing. Ask yourself a simple question: if you balanced your checkbook every month, would you need to borrow any money?

Just in case you forgot -- the current level of total federal debt is

$9,057,981,725,122.80

And notice that every year, the federal government has issued tons of debt since Bush took office.

09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23

09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50

09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32

09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62

09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16

09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06

09/30/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86

In other words -- this isn't a one time event. This is the way the Republicans run the country. Poorly.

So, let's return to the CBOs estimate of $2.7 trillion that the US will spend on the war until 2017. Now, let's ask ourselves a very simple question:

WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE WE GOING TO GET THE MONEY TO PAY FOR IT?

We're already issuing $500 billion or more of net new debt per year for the last 5 years. That means one very important thing is not happening -- we're not balancing our budget in any way shape or form. Instead, we're spending the Social Security Trust Fund (which we're supposed to be saving) for today's expenditures. And let's remember the fiscally responsible Republican Party was completely in control for 6 of the last 7 years of fiscal history. They have absolutely no idea how to deal with national finances.

How much more debt can we float before our creditors stop lending us money?

The Republicans want to find out.