Hair of the Dog

... is the prescription from the government, and from politicians on both sides of the aisle.

From Henry Paulson of the Bush administration, we get a strong suggestion that we should all run off and start borrowing more money from the banks.

"The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it," Mr. Paulson said.

From Barack Obama, we get permission to draw down our 401(k) funds and a bailout for states who can't control their budgets.

The main new proposals (of the Obama plan) would:

— allow savers with tax-favored Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k)’s to withdraw 15 percent of those retirement savings, up to a maximum of $10,000, without paying a tax penalty as the law currently requires for withdrawals before age 59 and a half;

— direct the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to create a temporary facility for loans to state and local governments, similar to the Fed’s new arrangement to loan corporations money by buying their commercial paper, which are the I.O.U.s that help businesses with daily operating expenses like payrolls.

You can load up on still more debt if you'd like. Me, I'm sticking with Dave Ramsey.

FACING UP TO THE Nation's Finances

National Debt Clock