Both of the breadwinners in this household rank among the "under-employed." Our children are old enough to understand that we are experiencing challenging times as a family and as a nation, but they are too young to anticipate what that means. Hence, they were dismayed to come home today and find that there was no cable television available.

After allowing them to whine for a few minutes, my wife and I explained that we were blessed because we were able to pay the mortgage this month. We discussed how we all had to make choices and prioritize, and that you can't have things you can't pay for. Our seven-year-old summed things up by saying, "Well let's just read a book instead of watching TV."

If our young child can "get it", why can't our government?