Remember when the deficit was a bad thing and we needed a balanced budget? No more. We are hundreds of billions in debt and big government says let’s have more because it’s a good thing.

Liberal Democrats once criticized President Bush for his inattention to the deficit, but no more. They are too busy hopping on the gravy train that the world financial crisis has provided them. I guess they figure that if a lot of Americans won’t live within their means, why should they.

This is going to come back to haunt us more than a Halloween ghost. We are going to borrow the money from China and possibly other countries that do not wish us well. And we have already sent many jobs and much profit to China because so many businesses wanted to increase their profits.

So, what we will have is a situation in which we are largely borrowing our own money from the Chinese and paying them interest. When government makes mistakes, it never admits them and we end up paying for them. This is the future and it’s not a very bright one.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.