Four years ago, the U.S. economy crashed — hard.

The stock market hit multi-year lows. Long-standing banks and financial institutions were crumbling and, quite honestly, it didn’t look like things would get better anytime soon.

The nation was scared of going over an economic cliff, never to return.

It wasn’t long before we all realized that the problem stemmed from a complete lack of leadership, oversight and prudence in the financial and housing markets.

Essentially, no responsible adults were driving the bus.

Slowly and methodically, however, the economy improved a bit and has been slowly inching higher ever since.

Yet, this week, political fighting may derail the economy again, all because our leaders refuse to compromise over the automatic, $1.2 trillion federal budget cuts.

Both sides of the political aisle agreed to light the time bomb’s fuse in 2011.

As originally conceived, the idea was that the sequester, as the automatic cuts are called, was so bad-tasting that no one actually would allow them to go into effect.

Now that we’re on the brink of seeing that happen, we see just how divided Congress is. Like two teenagers playing a game of chicken, both sides are too stubborn to flinch.

Again, our country is speeding down the road with no responsible adult hands on the steering wheel.

Let’s hope the next pothole isn’t as deep as the one we hit in 2009.