Greece is in financial trouble. So is Puerto Rico. Countless other countries, states and cities, including some close to home, are balancing on the edge. It wouldn’t take much for them to fall off the cliff. Not too long ago, we watched auto makers, banks and one large U.S. corporation after another face financial ruin. Some of them went under, while others turned to the federal government to bail them out.

It’s easy to overspend. We watch Washington do just that, year after year. Most of us can’t remember when the United States last spent less than it took in. We probably weren’t even alive. These days, we’re all getting more than a bit jittery with all the predictions that we are in imminent danger of an unprecedented financial disaster, thanks to our addiction to credit. The predictions suggest we may wake up some morning soon to find that our investments, bank accounts, and even government-run programs such as Social Security or Medicare are in jeopardy or don’t even exist anymore.

We’d all like to think it’s just naysayers trying to scare us, but unfortunately, some of our best-known and highly respected financial advisors maintain that our country is in real danger of financial collapse, thanks to years and years of overspending. In the past 10 years alone, we’ve managed to double the national debt. Individual Americans are being urged to clear up their indebtedness, stop using credit cards and return to a cash system as we did years ago. In other words, if it’s not “real” money, don’t spend it.

Most Americans, and we’re sure those in other democratic countries as well, feel helpless to curb overspending at the national level. Municipal extravagance in a small town, on the other hand, is much harder because everyone’s watching, and if it doesn’t stop, taxpayers are in a position to do something about it.

Small Maine towns are usually overseen by selectmen who are our friends and neighbors. We don’t mind picking up the phone or writing a Letter to the Editor and letting them know when we’re not happy. If they don’t appear to listen, well, when they come up for reelection, we can work hard to see they aren’t returned to office.

We can’t speak for towns all over the state, but from what we read and hear, there isn’t a whole lot of pork in most municipal budgets because most taxpayers are paying attention.

When we watch what’s happening to the finances of governments around the world, it makes us truly appreciate our own small towns and thank our lucky stars that conservatives usually sit on our boards. We do think that our legislators in Augusta could have been a bit thriftier with the budget that they recently passed just ahead of the deadline, but we’re pleased that at least some of our political leaders on both sides of the aisle wanted to see an even leaner budget.

Thankfully, the majority realize we can’t do everything for everyone even though we’ve sadly become a society that expects Big Brother to take care of us.

It’s comforting to realize just how lucky we are to live in a small town where residents have a hands-on government. We don’t thank our selectmen and budget committee members often enough for working hard on our behalf to meet the towns’ needs and for keeping a tight rein on expenditures. It’s easier said than done. While we may not show it or say it often, we appreciate their efforts.

We sometimes wish we could step back in time to the days when government control didn’t go beyond town and city limits. We’ve watched the federal government get too big for its britches and states’ rights fade away. Can we ever hope to take any of it back? The chances are slim, but it’s a lofty goal for all of us.