There's never enough dough to go around

It's not unusual to thumb through the newspaper and read story after story after story about different groups wanting government to pay for things that need to be done. Then, because it's the nature of my job, I go to meetings and events in which I listen to more people talk about more things the government needs to fund. I often agree with them.

In Wednesday's Kentucky Enquirer, here is a sampling of what was in the news:

-- Kentucky spending on Medicaid rose $56 million to $4.6 billion annually.
-- The U.S. House passed a $516 billion budget bill. Oh, that didn't include funding for Iraq, where we don't have a clue as to what happened to billions we've spent already.
-- Latest projections show a $45 trillion shortfall in government benefit programs, including Social Security and Medicare, over the next 75 years.
-- World leaders pledged $7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinian government. We're in for $555 million.
-- Ohio found $500,000 so General Motors would build a parts warehouse in West Chester to employ 186 people.
-- Closer to home for those of us in NKY, reporter Pat Crowley wrote about $100 million needed for Gateway Community and Technical College, a road in Newport and an expanded Northern Kentucky Convention Center. A drug facility to treat NKY teens needs more than $3 million.
-- Boone County's $11 million new library will open next month.

I suspect most of us support a lot of these things. I know I do. But what's lacking is a comprehensive assessment of what we can afford to do, when and how -- just like you have to do in your own home.

Can America really afford to impose its will on the world? Can we really afford to educate and give benefits to people here illegally? We're going to have to start saying "no" to some things or our our children may inherit a nation with the world's most expensive health care, an infrastructure in collapse and governments unable to do anything but emergency triage. Some days that feels pretty close.