So, the immense drop in oil prices blew a massive hole in our budget, and panic has set in.  A leg of the "three legged stool" has been sawed off, and it can't balance on two.  If we had diversified our economy over the last twenty years, which was entirely possible given our ability to invest, at least we'd still have a three legged stool.  Those of us who advocated for economic diversity and away from Big Oil were shut out as heretics.

We're seriously suffering from a lack of vision.

Those advocating the concept of government finance being "just like" household finance are sadly misinformed.  Government has financial options unavailable to families.  The budget gap does not to be closed in 90 days or several years, and the crafting of creative, intelligent and thoughtful solutions needs to begin.  We do have resources to work with, but burning through savings will never bring us where we want to go.