Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that lobbies for government fiscal responsibility, sees a parallel between the practices that led to the meltdown on Wall Street and the federal government’s own spending and borrowing habits.

“Wall Street got in trouble by being overleveraged and having books that weren’t very transparent,” he said. “And we’ve been worried the federal government is overleveraged and making huge future promises. In effect, it’s assumed huge amounts of deficit financing these programs, and just as it became impossible for Wall Street to go on perpetually propped up by debt, so it will for the federal government, as well.”

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“American voters have been very nearsighted themselves, in that it’s been very hard for many to realize they are overextended, so how can they hold their policy makers accountable?” said Diane Lim Rogers, chief economist at the Concord Coalition. “It’s very scary, but at the same time, I think this current crisis is going to help people get a grip and say, ‘OK, I guess I’m going to start to save more. I’m not going to run up my credit card debt so much.’ This crisis is going to put the brakes on a lot of borrowing over the whole economy, I hope.”

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“There will be huge repercussions for the next few years as government takes on troubled assets and tries to get rid of them,” Bixby said. “It will overhang everything. Its budgetary treatment might minimize that to a certain extent — they won’t do it on a cash basis — but everyone will be aware that debt goes up $700 billion. And no one knows what the return will be.”

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Bixby described the new level of indebtedness as “having the Sword of Damocles hanging over the budget,” and he suggested that it could overshadow debates on everything from Social Security and Medicare to defense, education and taxes.