North Carolina Democrat Erskine Bowles, co-chair of President Obama’s debt commission, on what Bowles deems the “cancer” of the national debt, which will hit an absolutely astronomical $14 trillion next year.

The problem? The unbelievably irresponsible spending and borrowing by the current administration and Congress. From the New York Times: (emphasis is mine)

Mr. Obama addressed the economy last week during stops in Kansas City and Las Vegas, and has been calling on Congress to offer additional tax relief to small businesses.

And the heads of Mr. Obama’s national debt commission — Alan K. Simpson and Erskine B. Bowles — were on hand here on Sunday to press the economic issue.

The nation’s total federal debt next year is expected to exceed $14 trillion, and Mr. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Mr. Bowles, a Democrat and the White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, offered a gloomy assessment if spending is not brought under control even more.

“This debt is like a cancer,” Mr. Bowles said. “It is truly going to destroy the country from within.”

Per the Heritage Foundation’s report on federal spending:

Spending has increased 19 percent faster than inflation since 2008.