It's the end of July, coming into August-a time famed in the DC area for being hot, humid, and almost unbearable. Yet, ironically enough, weather in the district itself in comparison to surrounding areas is hotter-just as the rhetoric we hear coming from DC.

On Tuesday, our nation defaults if we cannot raise the debt ceiling-meaning that the United States is so much in debt that we can no longer pay our bills. According to President Obama, "interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money"-and interest rates could rise for borrowing money to help pay for a home (which could cause a collapse of the housing market), for a car (a possible collapse of the auto marker) for small businesses who are trying to borrow money and use it to make more (collapse of small businesses across the nation), seniors will not receive social security and medicare after working their entire lives, and worst, students with loans, who are trying to build their futures-who all will struggle, and possibly collapse, financially, because of interest rates they can't handle.

As I write this, one thing interets me most-I'm fourteen, and how will our current financial crisis affect my generation? The thing is, I don't know-none of us do. It's the lack of certainty of what's to come that scares me the most. I can't vote. My member of congress is already a Democrat who I agree with on most issues. All I can do is write, and hope that 28 million US teens like me won't have to pay for the problems today, tomorrow. When we can reverse that statement, we know we're on track again.