Comptroller General of the U.S. - We will fall

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Comptroller General of the U.S. - We will fall

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:00:47 PM EDT

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Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned
Financial Times ^ | August 14, 2007 | By Jeremy Grant

The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”..
“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”.

Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress..

While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself..

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volume”. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated with”..

“I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,” he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on..

“One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,” said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term..

The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”. .

“With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks,” said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm..

Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an “unsustainable path”..

“Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernise everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call.” .

Mr Walker said he would offer to brief the would-be presidential candidates next spring. .

“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

Pretty sad when the government finally acknowledges we're screwed

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:02:11 PM EDT

[#1]

He is a Clintonite calling for smaller government - thats how screwed we are.

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:05:38 PM EDT

[#2]

Yeh I agree it's sad, but I know it's coming regardless of whether they acknowledge it or not. You can read the signs.
One of the reasons I'm bettering my firearms, survival gear and supplies.
It could be a cold long road ahead.

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:08:53 PM EDT

[#3]

Its all OK.

I've got my guns.

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:13:43 PM EDT

[#4]

wtf is "inter-generational equity?"
So fiscal responsibility. Big talk. Is he for taxation or budget cuts.
The phrase means two very different things

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:52:00 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Sounds like this guy has an agenda to push. The guy decided on his own to do an "investigation" at the behest of others who's names cannot be associated with the "investigation". It's funny how these dire predictions by influential "non-partisan" types pop up in the heat of Presidential elections.

Hell millions of folks have been saying for years that government hand outs, social security, instituting trade agreements that sell the U.S. citizens down the river and the Feds unending borrowing of money are/will one day bite us on the ass.

I'd just like to know when our government is considered more bankrupt than it is now, who are these foreign governments going to sell their US loans to?

I'd hardly call this the heat of the presidential election. There haven't even been any primaries yet.

i appreciate your optimism, but don't share it.

It's been so heated I actually thought for a couple of days it was the year 2008. No turd (sorry, I don't know if the S word is taboo here).

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:57:12 PM EDT

[#6]

Cut welfare programs and deficit spending. I'll file that under NO SHIT!!

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:57:32 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
It has to happen. In the end times.... we will be completely insignificant. As long as we are still here, that's cool with me.

Better go buy back all that ammo you sold.

Been tellin ya...

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:59:16 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
It has to happen. In the end times.... we will be completely insignificant. As long as we are still here, that's cool with me.

Better go buy back all that ammo you sold.

Been tellin ya...

God put us here to love, learn, trust, teach, and obey. Not to kill.

Posted: 8/13/2007 7:59:21 PM EDT

[#9]

We're all gonna die !

It seems the Birchers were right after all.

I dare you to read this.

The Income Tax- The root of all evil

Frank Chodorov wrote "... you come up with the fact that it gives the government a prior lien on all the property produced by its subjects." The government "unashamedly proclaims the doctrine of collectivized wealth. ... That which it does not take is a concession."

Posted: 8/13/2007 8:00:31 PM EDT

[#10]

"over-confident military"....wtf I guess wanting to win makes me over-confident

Posted: 8/13/2007 8:01:44 PM EDT

[#11]

They said the exact same stuff during the last years of the Reagan presidency; you should have heard some of the dire predictions liberal economists made after the stock market correction of '87.

Yup!

Posted: 8/13/2007 8:03:06 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

Quoted:
It has to happen. In the end times.... we will be completely insignificant. As long as we are still here, that's cool with me.

Better go buy back all that ammo you sold.

Been tellin ya...

God put us here to love, learn, trust, teach, and obey. Not to kill.

Sheep

Posted: 8/13/2007 8:23:08 PM EDT

[#13]

Bring it.

Posted: 8/13/2007 8:42:39 PM EDT

[#14]

The Players who bought Rome down

Posted: 8/13/2007 9:03:23 PM EDT

[#15]

Ooohhh noez!!1!one!llower_case_L!! Peak Republic!

Posted: 8/13/2007 9:04:57 PM EDT

[#16]

Imperial Hubris

Posted: 8/13/2007 9:12:30 PM EDT

[#17]

Immigrants are bad = barbarian horde.
Not Americans with our values.

Decline in Morals and Values----landslide down
Public Health ---------------------obese
Political Corruption----------------yeah
Unemployment--------------------They took our jobs--[southpark]
Urban decay-----------------------inner cities--check
Inferior Technology---------------not so much but dependant on oil from foreign countries with no new energy source.
Military Spending------------------very high

Did the Romans have a group of people that saw the end near? The Roman Spear network? A kind of survival network that escaped to live on? Arfcom of the old days?
Or did they fall and not see it coming like sheep?

It just had to happen in my generation didn't it.

Posted: 8/13/2007 9:15:25 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
Uh, folks, the deficit is rapidly shrinking thanks to economic growth and rising tax revenues.

WTF are you smoking?

The Federal deficit has exploded to around $9 trillion dollars. Nobody in Washington D.C. even pretends to care about it any more. Tax revenues might be rising, but they don't come anywhere close to fulfilling current obligations, let alone future ones.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Comptroller General of the U.S. - We will fall

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