In Greek mythology, even Olympian gods and heroes were subject to a higher divine power known loosely as "fate" — an allotted moira, or destiny, that could not be changed even by thunderbolt-throwing Zeus.

In modern America, debt — whether national, state or trade — now plays the same overarching role as the ancient Greek notion of fate. And the president, Congress and the states for all their various agendas are impotent since they must first pay back trillions that have long ago been borrowed and spent.

Politicians in their hubris who believe they can ignore debt or wish it away are sorely disappointed — as we see now with the plummeting approval ratings of both the administration and Congress.

Take the issue of health-care reform proposals, in which the issue of debt looms large. We are told that more people will be insured, costs will go down and care will not be rationed. But this rhetoric cannot disguise the reality of taking on even more debt.

To cover more Americans, a broke federal government will either have to borrow more or curtail the level of coverage that the currently insured enjoy. Numbers do not lie, and our government either must explain how a radical expansion in medical care will cut back on existing choice and service or where the additional revenue will come from.

The spiraling budget deficit also now trumps all discussion of tax policy. We are told the government will not raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans. Yet aside from billions for corporate bailouts, new entitlements will go largely to this group and will increase the annual budget shortfall to nearly $2 trillion.

The wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, who pay over 40 percent of the aggregate income tax, simply are not numerous enough to provide the necessary additional revenue.

Most likely the administration soon will have to impose a value-added tax that will fall on everyone, or make Americans who now pay no federal income taxes start paying them.

Debt also will overshadow energy policy and for now trump green politics and politicians. Administration officials lecture grandly about wind and solar power to come. But both are still expensive and now constitute less than 5 percent of our energy production.

Due to the recession, the United States has been given a rare reprieve, as decreased global consumption has led to increased supplies abroad and a radical — though temporary — fall in energy prices. We have a brief window of salvation in which to start developing additional energy inside the United States — whether nuclear, untapped coal, offshore oil, new natural gas fields, shale oil or tar sands — that could ensure the country does not go broke when energy prices rise again, and we slowly transition to new renewable sources of power.

Yet we continue to dream of inadequate, expensive solar and wind power, while not expanding traditional domestic sources of energy — even as we borrow to consume imported oil and natural gas.

President Obama has put forth an ambitious agenda of radical health-care reform, cap-and-trade legislation, new energy proposals and expanded entitlements. But no matter how brilliantly the president describes his progressive agenda, it can't escape our fiscal fate: The nation is broke and its ability to borrow ever more trillions of dollars is coming to an end.

In short, Americans will have to either raise massive taxes, postpone new spending or cut existing expenditures — and most likely all three at once.