Is the United States Heading for Bankruptcy?
Posted by Dave Lima on Mon, Apr 21, 2008 @ 11:01 AM
David Walker is the Contoller General of the United States. It's his job to oversee and audit spending by the United States government. He presents the position that our current standard of living in the United States is not maintainable. He has urged elected officials to review his calculations and take affirmative action to avert the on-coming economic disaster. When no one listened to this particular "incovenient truth" he started touring the country and speaking about the problem.
The problem is that we are spending more than we earn, charging the deficit and hoping it can be paid in the future. We are running huge deficits that are getting worse. The difficulty lies in massive entitlements combining with baby boomers coming of age to collect on those entitlements. If we do nothing to fix this problem by the year 2040, Walker calculates that the United States will only be able to pay some entitlements, interest on it's debt and not much more. That's right, no national defense spending, no homeland security budget and no funding for education.
Health care is the most significant problem Congress needs to address. Medicare is a much greater problem than social security. Health expenses are growing at a rate of two times inflation.
Walker's concusion is that if we don't act to curb health costs by reforming the system the country will be bankrupt.
Maybe we should send our President and Congressmen to the same credit counseling and financial management courses they mandated for consumer debtors.
To see Mr. Walker discuss his crusade click below: