The People Who Are Spending Your Tax Dollars...

...can't seem to manage their own finances.

The Obamas have complained repeatedly about their student loan debt, which they were slowly paying off while living a very affluent existence. Michelle has said that they had collection calls. Of course, for some reason it didn't occur to these Ivy Leaguers that they should start out with a tighter budget and focus on retiring their debt.

At the same time the Obamas weren't paying off their student loans, we learn that Obama was maxing out his credit card to finance a political campaign!

Representative Laura Richardson has a similarly screwy list of priorities. While she was in default on not one, not two, but three mortgages, she also loaned her campaign thousands of dollars:

"Richardson loaned her Assembly campaign $100,000 in the summer of 2006, borrowing against the equity in her Long Beach home. After her election, she raised enough money to pay herself back, but immediately had to plow $77,500 in loans to her congressional campaign."

Amazingly, both Obama and Richardson seek to equate their spending habits with "the little guy" and suggest they really understand rough economic times.

It's certainly disturbing that people with such skewed personal financial priorities get to turn around and spend our tax dollars. Unfortunately, bad decision making is also constantly reflected in Congress's careless spending of Americans' hard-earned money.

Terri at Home at Last Farm offers the perspective of a fiscally responsible American who doesn't want Congress spending her money to bail out others who have made bad decisions. I couldn't agree more.

Friday Update: Thanks to Dana for making me aware of a new article on Rep. Laura Richardson, whose story grows worse the more it's investigated. It transpires she has a long history of missed mortgage payments, as well as stiffing her creditors.

Let's hope the people of Long Beach find someone more worthy of representing them to run against Richardson in the next election.