With brand new President on his way this month, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a brewing problem that no one seems willing to confront.
It’s the national debt, stupid. And it is a problem that will swamp the U.S. economy in the not too distant future, leaving a massive bill that can’t possibly be paid by our children and grandchildren.
So here’s a glimpse into a future that we can ill afford.
It comes courtesy of David M. Walker, the nation’s chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Take a look:
Walker, by the way, has been beating this drum for years now.
In fact, I wrote about him and his efforts to sound the alarm in a piece that ran in Gold World on November 15, 2006 entitled: Baby Boomers…..or Baby Doomers?
Of course, since then the crisis has only gotten worse.
In fact, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office today, 2009 will be a record setter when it comes to the deficit….
From the AP entitled: CBO sees record $1.2 trillion ’09 deficit
“The federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year and the U.S. economy will likely contract by more than 2 percent, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report.
The eye-popping estimates reflect plummeting tax revenues because of the recession and about $400 billion spent to bail out the financial industry and take over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last year’s deficit was $455 billion.
The CBO estimate released Wednesday also sees the U.S. economy shrinking by 2.2 percent this year and recovering only slightly to grow by 1.5 percent in 2010. It foresees the unemployment rate eclipsing 9 percent early next year unless the Obama administration steps in.
“The recession – which began about a year ago – will last well into 2009,” the CBO report says. The agency said that “ongoing turmoil in the housing and financial markets has taken a major toll on the federal budget.”
The dismal figures come a day after President-elect Barack Obama warned of “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come.”
Scary stuff.
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