Immediate Change
Comptroller General David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office is our nation’s top accountant. The office is a professional position, not a political position. Walker was nominated by Bill Clinton for a 15 year term and was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.
Walker insists America’s financial future requires immediate change. In 2003, he issued an exceptionally critical assessment of our country’s future in a report that warned of dramatic tax increases, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments holdings of US debt.
Unfortunately, the American people never got to see those numbers because they were pulled out of the 2004 budget, just a few days after Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who ordered the analysis, was fired by Bush.
Our elected representatives need to make fiscal responsibility their top priorities. Walker believes that we still have a chance to turn the current situation around, but if Congress doesn’t act, the risk of a serious crisis will continue to rise.
The Medicare prescription drug bill passed by Congress as a totally irresponsible piece of legislation. Congress knew the projections that the program would cost $400 billion over the next decade were inaccurate, when they voted for the bill. The true cost will be at least $1 trillion in the first decade and much more in following decades as our population grows older.
David Walker claims our government can’t keep its promises for Social Security and Medicare, because it’s too late to reformed our entitlement system. The official national debt figure has reached $9 trillion, but this merely reflects what the federal government owes in current debts on money already borrowed. It doesn’t reflect what the federal government has promised to pay millions of Americans in entitlement benefits down the road. By 2040 the entire federal budget will be consumed by Social Security and Medicare and our only options would be cutting federal spending by about 60%, or doubling federal taxes.
The first step is to bring our troops home from Iraq, and save 8.4 billion a month. Next step, eliminate the 90 thousand dollar FICA cap on Social Security deductions, and acquire significantly more money, from the those earning over $250 thousand a year, as well as, from the more than 2 million millionaires and 482 billionaires in America.
The third step, is for our elected representatives to stop bribing their constituents to reelect them with taxpayer’s money. In 2006, House Republicans slipped in earmarks worth $67 billion, which was a tripling of the pork trough, since the Republicans won control of the House in 1994. Members of Congress are addicted to earmarks and are getting more sophisticated in hiding their pet projects, by replacing the word “earmark” with the phrase “congressional directed spending.”
Walker said: “I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call... As comptroller general I’ve got the ability to look long range and take on issues that others may not be in a position, to take on... We are a great country, but we face sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough. With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiraling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face enormous fiscal risks... Our current policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq are unsustainable.”
Walker insists America’s financial future requires immediate change. In 2003, he issued an exceptionally critical assessment of our country’s future in a report that warned of dramatic tax increases, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments holdings of US debt.
Unfortunately, the American people never got to see those numbers because they were pulled out of the 2004 budget, just a few days after Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who ordered the analysis, was fired by Bush.
Our elected representatives need to make fiscal responsibility their top priorities. Walker believes that we still have a chance to turn the current situation around, but if Congress doesn’t act, the risk of a serious crisis will continue to rise.
The Medicare prescription drug bill passed by Congress as a totally irresponsible piece of legislation. Congress knew the projections that the program would cost $400 billion over the next decade were inaccurate, when they voted for the bill. The true cost will be at least $1 trillion in the first decade and much more in following decades as our population grows older.
David Walker claims our government can’t keep its promises for Social Security and Medicare, because it’s too late to reformed our entitlement system. The official national debt figure has reached $9 trillion, but this merely reflects what the federal government owes in current debts on money already borrowed. It doesn’t reflect what the federal government has promised to pay millions of Americans in entitlement benefits down the road. By 2040 the entire federal budget will be consumed by Social Security and Medicare and our only options would be cutting federal spending by about 60%, or doubling federal taxes.
The first step is to bring our troops home from Iraq, and save 8.4 billion a month. Next step, eliminate the 90 thousand dollar FICA cap on Social Security deductions, and acquire significantly more money, from the those earning over $250 thousand a year, as well as, from the more than 2 million millionaires and 482 billionaires in America.
The third step, is for our elected representatives to stop bribing their constituents to reelect them with taxpayer’s money. In 2006, House Republicans slipped in earmarks worth $67 billion, which was a tripling of the pork trough, since the Republicans won control of the House in 1994. Members of Congress are addicted to earmarks and are getting more sophisticated in hiding their pet projects, by replacing the word “earmark” with the phrase “congressional directed spending.”
Walker said: “I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call... As comptroller general I’ve got the ability to look long range and take on issues that others may not be in a position, to take on... We are a great country, but we face sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough. With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiraling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face enormous fiscal risks... Our current policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq are unsustainable.”
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:02 AM
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