You don't have to be a close observer of politics to see the troubling similarities in the economic and budgetary conditions of the nation and the state of Illinois. With both economies beset with high unemployment and tepid growth, our state and national politicians have governed their way into exploding deficits, out-of-control spending and an unsustainable growth of government.

In Washington, tax dollars have been wasted on doomed-to-fail "stimulus" plans, a massive expansion of government size and spending in the health care law and countless bailouts and new obligations. In Illinois, politicians in recent years have pushed through expensive new programs, such as the FamilyCare and All Kids insurance mandates, and other spending programs, such as the Universal Preschool program - all without regard to the massive amount of debt they would create.

Politicians both in Washington and Springfield have shown a remarkable inability to take the common sense approach to their budget crises and reduce their spending. Instead of showing real leadership and breaking their bad spending habits, these elected officials have attempted to placate voters with half-measures and budgetary head fakes.

Earlier this year, after ushering through unprecedented increases in federal spending and record deficits, President Obama tried to fool Americans into thinking he cared about the fiscal stability of the nation by calling for a so-called spending freeze on discretionary spending. Of course, the spending freeze applies to only a small part of the horribly bloated federal budget and simply preserves the current unsustainable levels of federal spending.

Gov. Quinn and lawmakers in the state Legislature have offered only slightly more than meaningless reductions to out-of-control spending here in Illinois. Of course, these paltry reductions came after six straight years of budget increases of an average of $1 billion annually, amounting, in total, to about 1 percent of the budget for the 2010 fiscal year. Moreover, after cobbling together a partial patchwork solution to Illinois' $13 billion budget crisis, the governor's office tied the hands of many agency hands by needlessly restricting what can and cannot be cut.

Many of the same budget gimmicks we have seen the Obama administration use to hide its fiscal irresponsibility are showing up in Illinois. In trying to sell health care and cap-and-trade plans to the American people, the administration used deceptive budgeting techniques (such as counting on 10 years of revenue to pay for 6 years of benefits or delaying the implementation of fees and taxes for several years) to cover the massive costs of the proposed policies. In essence, the Obama administration and lawmakers in Congress were borrowing against the future prosperity of the United States.

Here in Illinois, it has been borrowing of a slightly different type that has caused the most trouble. Poor budgeting forced lawmakers last year to borrow $3.5 billion to cover its pension payments, and new proposals suggest the state may need to borrow $5 billion to close its FY 2011 operating deficit. On top of all of this borrowing, Gov. Quinn has proposed carrying forward at least $6 billion in unpaid bills to next year's budget.

In the end, of course, it is the people that must pay for their elected officials' fiscal irresponsibility. In Washington, policy makers have considered (and in some cases passed) a host of new fees and taxes, from health care mandates to carbon taxes, to help fund their spending spree. In Illinois, Gov. Quinn has pushed to raise the state's income tax rate by at least 1 percentage point - to 4 percent - thereby placing at risk one of the few competitive advantages the state has in taxation.

And, just as Washington likely plans to allow critical tax cuts to expire next year, Illinois has ended important tax incentives for employers and pushed for countless new fees and taxes on job creators.

The fiscal irresponsibility of both our federal and state government is startling and poses a very real risk to the health of our economy. High taxes, uncontrolled spending, unfunded mandates and massive debts aren't a recipe for economic prosperity - either for our state or our nation. In both cases, leaders need to realize the only plausible solution is to dramatically reduce government spending, reform how taxpayer dollars are spent, and focus on being austere stewards of the people's money.