Locker Room passes along Tea Party economist Gary North’s assessment of the nation’s debt crisis:
I was happy to see an article from mainstream economists on the mess we are in. Of course, the mess is vastly worse than they indicate. The on-budget debt of $15 trillion is peanuts compared to the $222 trillion of present-value net unfunded liabilities. But the mess is bad enough to warrant this article.
Nothing will change Congress. Nothing will change the executive. There will be no cutback in spending until the numbers force the Great Default.
Americans will not be ready. State and local governments will not be ready.
Will you be ready?
Tea Party economist, you say? How about Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson –no Tea Partiers they—- who issued as dire an assessment at Wake Forest University last night.
A couple of things jumped out at me, most notably when Bowles and Simpson identified healthcare as one of the five major budget issues the country faces. No secret, but it’s because the country “spends twice as much on health care as any other developed country in the world,” as the N&R quoted Bowles. That seems to run counter to constant liberal claims that ‘we’re the richest nation on earth yet we don’t provide healthcare.’
Note also Bowles and Simpson call for changes in the tax code—-eliminating loopholes—- not tax increases. Their plan calls for $1 trillion in new revenue and $3 trillion in spending cuts.
Last but not least:
Both men called for quick action. Simpson said America’s debt problem can’t be solved “without touching Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and defense” and that changes will be painful. People who say different, Simpson said, are “totally phony.”
Interesting that a Wake Forest senior said –according to the Winston-Salem Journal ——“listening to Simpson and Bowles will help her decide who to vote for in the presidential election.”
Can’t help but wonder what her decision will be. Admittedly it’s a tough one in this context, yet I can’t see how any reasonable person would believe we can stay on this path.
