CLARKONOMICS: We're set to reach a level of federal spending that is unprecedented since World War II.

For every dollar the federal government spends next year, they'll have to borrow 48 cents to pay for that spending. The deficit the feds are now talking about is $1.84 trillion. That's a whopping 13% of our nation's gross domestic product.

You'd be hard pressed to find any economist who thinks it's reasonable to have a deficit that's more than 3% of the GDP!

In fairness to President Obama, he's responsible for nearly a third of the $1.84 trillion deficit with his stimulus law. Most of the remainder was already in place from his predecessor.

But this is a bad situation made worse by increasing federal spending instead of reining it in.

Some try to justify a deficit by arguing that we're just borrowing from ourselves. Their rationale is that it's wealthy Americans who buy the bonds to fund the debt. But that's not true any longer.

Today it's more likely to be wealthy foreigners who buy the debt. For example, we already owe China $1 trillion that we had to borrow in order to fund our federal spending.

What does this all mean for you and your life?

The promises of Social Security and Medicare can't be kept for the baby boomers. We have to be responsible for ourselves as we age. That means either saving money for retirement along the way or working well beyond your desired retirement age.