Retired Maytag Corp. employees find themselves in a tough situation – sort of like the rest of us. Their fate was played out in court; all Americans will see similar results nervously worked out by politicians.

Maytag workers believed their health-care costs would be taken care of forever, at 100 percent coverage. That’s how generous the company was – under steady pressure from the United Auto Workers union, of course. Then Whirlpool Corp. bought the Newton-based company and its obligations in 2006. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Whirlpool can switch Maytag retirees to its more limited health plan.

It can be argued that the Maytag workers have been cheated out of an agreement; it can be argued that Whirlpool is operating in an environment that doesn’t allow for overgenerous benefits.

But it must be noted that the typical American is in the same sort of overgenerous agreement with the federal government. That deal is bound to be modified.

No politician wants to infuriate big blocks of voters by cutting into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but somehow it will happen. Throw in unemployment insurance, food stamps and other benefits, and as The Wall Street Journal noted in an editorial: “By 2010 such payments to individuals were 66 percent of the federal budget, up from 28 percent in 1965.”

Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, it’s a sobering number.

The battle over the debt ceiling and the budget ended, but the underlying issues remain. Adjusting the debt ceiling isn’t the tricky part. The real challenge is making long-term spending decisions that will determine the nation’s fate, and that’s where we’ll see a serious test of our politicians’ character.

Then it will be up to voters to reward responsible behavior.

Maytag retirees are on their own, but when the nation’s future is at stake, Americans should share the pain.