By Bill O'Reilly

It's really embarrassing, really embarrassing. The federal government now is so inept it cannot represent the good people of the United States. It simply can't.

Let's walk through it. Last August, congressional leaders deadlocked over the budget agreed to name a super committee to cut spending and possibly raise taxes because the nation is bankrupt. The committee is made up of six Democrats and six Republicans, and from the beginning few pundits believed these people would agree on anything. We were right.

Right now, 80 percent of the American people disapprove of Congress; just 12 percent approve; eight percent don't know what Congress is. We, the people, well understand the chaos in Washington.

The Democrats, generally speaking, want to spend. They often get elected by promising entitlements to minorities, to unions, to special interest groups. The Republicans want a much smaller government. They want to strangle what's in place now by denying it revenue. The GOP also wants President Obama out of there, so they are not likely to compromise much.

In the meantime, little gets done. The debt grows larger, the economy weaker.

And where is President Obama on leadership? He should have laid out his vision for spending cuts, but he didn't. In fact, he is MIA, running around with the Indonesians having fun in Bali. Meantime, Washington is collapsing.

Mr. Obama should be showing leadership, demanding trillions in spending cuts. We can do that by revising the tax code so more money does flow into Washington because we need more revenue to defend ourselves, to keep our commitments to the poor and elderly.

But this "tax the rich" ruse is a disgrace. Raising taxes on business and the affluent won't solve anything and could very well make the economy even worse. You have to have a consistent revenue flow, and that comes from tax collection, not punishing American business.

The stock market was down another 249 points on Monday. You guys better get on it in D.C., or the voters will throw all of you out.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Singer Taylor Swift seems like a very nice young woman, and Sunday night on "60 Minutes" she was asked about her status as a role model.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLEY STAHL, CBS NEWS: You're a role model, and you know it.

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: I think it's my responsibility to know it and to be conscious of it. And it would be really easy to say, you know, "I'm 21 now. I do what I want. You raise your kids." But that's not the truth of it. The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Very impressive. Miss Swift is a patriot. And you can contrast her success and point of view to Miley Cyrus, who has taken the opposite path and is paying a commercial price for doing that. Sometimes it pays to be responsible in the USA.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.