America’s Fiscal Crisis
The Comptroller General of the United States has spent the last three years on a Fiscal Wake-up Tour alerting Americans to the increasing dangers from our lack of financial responsibility and stressing that "the federal budget is on an imprudent and unsustainable path."
The GAO bluntly warns that the "retirement of the baby boom generation and the rising health care costs will soon place unprecedented and long-lasting stress on the federal budget, raising debt held by the public to unsustainable levels."
Health care, not Social Security, is highlighted as the leading problem, "Medicare and Medicaid spending threaten to consume an untenable share of the budget and economy in the coming decades." Public and private sector spending on medical care "continues to grow at an unsustainable pace, eroding the ability of employers to provide coverage to their workers and undercutting their ability to compete internationally."
As entitlements and debt service consume an increasing share of the budget, the resources left for discretionary spending decline. The result is a reduced federal ability to meet existing and new challenges as well as the inevitable enlistment of the private sector to carry out federal responsibilities.
"It is time for all Americans, especially baby boomers to recognize our collective stewardship obligation for the future. In doing so, we need to act soon because time is working against us." In short, either the public starts making hard choices or demographics and habit will make them for us – with deeply disturbing consequences.
See GAO Fiscal Wake-up Tour website
See GAO Report, "Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Action Is Needed to Avoid the Possibility of a Serious Economic Disruption in the Future"
See GAO Report, "A Call For Stewardship: Enhancing the Federal Government's Ability to Address Key Fiscal and Other 21st Century Challenges"
