Long Term Ramifications

I'd like to take a few minutes today to reflect on the economy and the lack of long term planning that the government partakes in. I have heard the phrase "Long Term Ramifications" in several different places today, and I think that this phrase is something that the government has not heard yet.
I find myself pondering what the founding fathers must have been thinking about things and wonder if they gave any thought to the "long term ramifications" of their actions... I think that there is so much impulse in the world and that people are so for instant gratification that they never ponder the "long term ramifications" of anything. From teenagers who partake in dangerous activities like unprotected sex, to anyone that uses heroine, to the lawmakers who pass bail out packages in the amount of 700 billion dollars to banks who loaned money out to people who thought that they could afford the loans... It just looks like a large cycle of no one thinking past 5 years into the future. In the event that they did think past the 5 year mark, I wonder if any of them thought of the negative things that could have happened or did they only focus on the best outcome they could envision; "If we loan all these people money and they have default, the value of their homes is sure to go up before that point and we will be able to make money on their default!"
I have also been reading another phrase that makes me laugh and cringe at the same time: "one of whom will inherit the economic mess in four months". This is regarding our 2 presidential candidates, and I think that a major flaw in our political/government system is that with 4 year terms the president doesn't really have to make things better, in fact he only has to technically look at the ramifications on a 4 or 8 year basis. I think that if there was more accountability for the president, that maybe these things would be better thought out and someone might actually think "How will this affect us/the economy/the planet in 20/25/30/50/100 years" I think it would be nice if the government had to do case studies on these types of things before they could pass laws or bail outs or other allow drilling or development. It all goes back to instant gratification, the people need this taken care of now, there is no time to look at the long term ramifications, we will just have to deal with those as they come along, well, WE won't have to deal with them, the next poor sap in charge will and our children will have to suffer the long term ramifications of our irresponsible actions.

Well I have just about run out of steam for this one.. That's all for now.