Reports of America's demise may be premature, or so says a man who wrote a book about the fall of the British Empire.

Now the financial community is betting on the collapse of Greece, which is making it harder for the Greek government to get financing, which makes a collapse more likely.

A reminder is in order. Greece is the canary in the coal mine. Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal may be next, but they will certainly be followed by Germany, France, Great Britain and, yes, the United States, if we do not come to grips with our runaway spending. We cannot keep growing government at the current pace unless we are willing to enact ruinous new and increased taxes.

In the U.S., we must understand that our Federal budget is dominated by spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on the debt, defense, and pensions. Simply cutting discretionary spending, however much sense it makes to eliminate wasteful programs, will not solve the problem. We must deal with entitlements, and we must do so sooner rather than later.

Social Security surpluses will end by 2017, according to current estimates. Medicare and Medicaid are in worse shape. Unless the economy rebounds quickly and to a level never before seen, we will see our deficits grow larger, and our ability to deal with them grow weaker. We must act NOW.