The federal deficit halfway through this budget year is at an all-time high, the Treasury Department announced Thursday, and the national debt is growing as well. But before we blame Washington politicians for their irresponsibility, stupidity and cowardice -- and we should -- we may want to look at another culprit: the American people. We, too, bear some responsibility for our $9 trillion federal debt and $50 trillion in governmental promises of future benefits.

Yes, cutting taxes and increasing spending is irresponsible, as is allowing Medicare and Medicaid costs to rise so quickly, as is failing to achieve a long-term fix for Social Security and retirement security, as is developing (and protecting) a Byzantine tax code and dysfunctional budget process, as is pork. Yada yada yada. Washington deserves a lot of blame for the growing national debt, despite some genuinely thoughtful and courageous leaders, and must take the lead in solving the nation's fiscal problems.

But we share the blame. We want lower taxes but more government services. We go to great and morally questionable lengths to avoid paying the taxes that we now owe. We want to stop working as early as possible and draw retirement benefits for as long as possible. 

Both are counting on savings from reducing the U.S. presence in Iraq and rolling back some of President Bush's tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire after 2010, to pay for their new programs. Both expect that expanded use of electronic health records and other advances in medical information technology will defray some of the cost of moving to a universal health-care system.

Neither, however, has proposed a fix for the biggest near-term strain on the federal budget, the alternative minimum tax, or explained how they propose to balance the cost of their campaign promises with the looming expense of the aging baby boomers.

Obama would be well-served to either fold up his "pledge" or "commitment" or whatever you want to call it, and take a bit of heat now, or else, say he's going to do public financing and be done with it, but trying to finesse the issue only serves up more ammo to McCain for his character attacks on Obama. We all know that swiftboating the credibility of the Democratic nominee's 'word' will be the Republicans' choice of attack, so don't give them ammo.

Some of the nation’s top economists warned that America’s long-term spending trends present a far larger financial crisis. Much of the reluctance to act is political, for few lawmakers want to be remembered for raising taxes or cutting benefits for constituents. This is especially true in a contentious election year.

Richard Kogan, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said there would be no sweeping changes to federal spending patterns until the crisis grows more tangible—- and voters are willing to sacrifice in response. "You can’t do the right thing," Kogan said, "until you’ve got candidates who can win by doing the right thing. I think you have to wait for a new electorate."

So the new labor report is out, and it says that nonfarm payrolls actually fell last month. On the other hand, employment growth for December was revised up.

You shouldn’t take any of this seriously. A better guide is probably to average the last 2 or 3 months. What you get then is that employment is still growing, but v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. In particular, employment growth is well short of what’s necessary to keep up with population growth. So even though it’s premature to say that jobs are shrinking, as a practical matter this makes no difference: the truth is that the jobs picture looks moderately dire.