Once again, we had another fiscal emergency. Well, THEY had a self-made emergency. Yes, our federal government, our legislators, the ones who created this “fiscal cliff” mess in the first place and had more than two years to work toward a resolution, decided to wait until the last minute and act like they were riding in on a white horse (paid for by the American taxpayer) to solve the problem they created.

And what did they do? They made the problem worse. They fixed nothing. They simply pushed the debt down the road.

This country is deficit-spending at a rate we can never repay, no matter how much money we steal from the rich.

Let’s put it in terms we can all understand. Say you make $50,000 a year, and let’s say your expenses are almost $68,000 a year. You can cut back on expenditures or you can do what the government does when it isn’t making enough money: Take out a second, third and fourth mortgage on your house. Then use the borrowed money to pay your deficit while you continue to spend more than you’re making.

In 10 years you are still in the hole – $180,000 in the hole. Even if you get a 2-percent raise each year, you will still be in the hole. This ratio is roughly equivalent to how our government is currently operating.

Our federal government takes in almost $2.4 trillion a year in tax revenues. They spend over $3.6 trillion a year. We are spending a trillion more than we take in. President Obama and our representatives have committed us to spending an additional $4 trillion over the next 10 years, leaving one big mess of a legacy for someone else to figure out because many of them won’t be around.

The fiscal cliff compromise didn’t really deal with any cuts or spending reforms. Remember how Mr. Obama said “no more bailouts for banks and big corporations?” Well, NASCAR, the green industry, farming and many others got big tax breaks. And Obama’s beloved middle class got the big shaft.

The average American will lose $30 each week from his paycheck. That’s a half tank of gas, 1.5 bags of groceries, the water bill, or the phone bill.

The average American will lose $120 to $150 each month. That’s half a car payment, a full insurance payment or an electric bill in a small apartment. Does anyone on Capitol Hill really give a ^%@$ about the American worker? No.

As a small business owner, I spend a lot of time working through the company budget, what we are spending, what we need to spend, and so on. As a husband, father and homeowner, I also have to take time to look at our current income, our expected future income, the safeguards on our investments, and “Plan B” in case everything blows up. It takes time and input from experts.

The fools on the hill took three minutes to evaluate this compromise before they voted on it. I wish I were joking. Let that sink in. Most of our U.S. senators received a copy of this 154-page bill three minutes before they voted on it, maybe 10 minutes total.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t read 154 pages, take it in and understand the details in less than 10 minutes. But these guys do this all the time.

They have all got to go.

Democrats need to wake up. Fifteen of the 21 best-run states are controlled by Republicans. Eleven states that currently have more people on public assistance than those not on public assistance are run by Democrats. Detroit, the poster child for the way the Democrats want to do business, is in the toilet and has been for a long time. The schools are a mess, government is a mess, the city is a mess, the streets are a mess. Shall I go on?

Both sides need to look at the hard numbers and see what works and what doesn’t and just do what works, period.

How do elected officials looking at their failing city, look at a successfully running city and decide they can’t do what the other city is doing because its run by the “other side?” That’s un-American, un-patriotic and just plain stupid.

Hey, America. Grow up and get a clue. Let’s replace these “fools on the hill” before they destroy us all.

Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also an elected member of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.