More Bad News About Federal Debt And Spending
Winston has written several articles about the federal debt and spending crisis. Here's another, and the news keeps getting worse.

Winston uses the word "crisis" advisedly. This country is heading toward fiscal meltdown unless significant changes are made in federal government spending and in federal entitlements programs. If you don't believe Winston, believe the Government Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office.

Earlier this week the CBO announced that this year's federal budget deficit will be a record high $422 billion, shattering the previous record set last year of $375 billion.

These large deficits have led the GAO to issue several comprehensive and very readable reports on the federal spending and debt crisis. Now GAO has a Web site entitled "Our Nation's Fiscal Outlook: The Federal Government's Long-Term Budget Imbalance." The Web site has excellent graphs that visually make the point verbalized by GAO's written summary of the situation:

Over the next few decades, the nation's fiscal outlook will be shaped largely by demographics and health care costs. As the baby boom generation retires, federal spending on retirement and health programs-Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid-will grow dramatically. A range of other federal fiscal commitments, some explicit and some representing implicit public expectations, also bind the nation's fiscal future. Absent policy change, a growing imbalance between expected federal spending and tax revenues will mean escalating and ultimately unsustainable federal deficits and debt.