The world's economic powerhouses left Toronto over the weekend parroting a message they wouldn't have uttered a year ago: It's time to stop hocking our futures by spending like drunks with government credit cards.

A year ago, the global economy was on the verge of collapse, which required the United States and countries all over the world to enact extraordinary spending programs to avert another Great Depression. Then Greece collapsed, and the most heavily indebted European nations caught an unsettling glimpse of their future.

At the weekend's meeting of the G-20 nations, leaders promised to slash deficits in half or more by 2013 and to reduce government debt as a percentage of their gross domestic product by 2016.

The irony is that the United States seemed a reluctant convert to this message. First, President Barack Obama urged more government spending to prevent another economic tailspin; he eventually switched course and backed the deficit-reduction targets, which had the urgent backing of Canada, Germany and Great Britain. "We can't all rush to the exits at the same time," said Obama, in a plea for a go-slow approach.

Nonetheless, the United States must begin to look for the exit sign, something we have urged for years as the nation piled on mounds of unsustainable debt in entitlement and other expensive programs. Surprisingly, fiscal leadership is coming from Europe, long thought to be immutably wedded to the unabated spending of nanny-state policies.

The United States could learn from Europe's awakening. Britain's debt, which tops $1 trillion, is on pace to double in the next five years. Already-high interest payments on its debt are projected to soar 67 percent by 2015. Not surprisingly, the country's coalition government has committed to tax increases and sharp budget cuts.

Contrast that with the United States. Our national debt stands around $12.5 trillion, on pace to reach 100 percent of the gross domestic product by 2022. Within four years, the interest payments will cost more than all annual domestic spending, outside of defense and entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security.

The United States and the rest of the globe face difficult choices that can't be postponed indefinitely. The G-20 leaders' final statement cautiously acknowledged the need for deficit reduction "tailored to national circumstances" and didn't set a binding timetable for progress.

We hope this isn't diplomat-speak designed to delay politically distasteful policies while providing the illusion of progress, but instead is a real understanding that out-of-control budgets doom future generations to financial ruin.

The G-20 leaders certainly said the right things, but words are cheap until they're turned into significant debt-reducing actions.