The USA: Another Day Deeper In Debt

On the outside of a building in Times Square in New York City, there's a National Debt Clock which has been running for a few decades now, its total spiralling upward as the federal government continues to spend more money than it takes in. It's disturbing that future generations will be saddled with it, and our future economic growth is at the mercy of countries holding that debt.

In an interview, the U.S. Comptroller General, David Walker says that big changes will have to happen to avoid financial calamity. He says that, generally speaking, tax cuts really don't generate much more income thatn keeping rates stable. He faults Congress for underestimating future costs of entitlement programs, which would be illegal if done in the private sector. His

But according to U.S. Representative Jim Cooper from Tennessee, a Democrat no less, we are in far more dire straits than we know. If standard accounting practices, the ones used by good corporations, that is, are employed, the true financial picture of the federal government (and each taxpayer) emerges. It just ain't pretty, it's actually quite scary.

Interview with U.S. Comptroller General David Walker
Story about the true federal debt