I agree with North Carolina Democrat Erskine Bowles, who made his “crisis” comment during a conference call about efforts to address the federal deficit and debt. Said Bowles, according to the Wall Street Journal:

 

Mr. Bowles’s tone on the call was grim. “The problem is real,” he said. “The solutions are all painful. There is no easy way out.” At one point, he said if the country doesn’t do anything to tackle the debt, “we’re going to have one hell of a crisis.”

He has said the debt could trigger an economic crisis if country’s that buy U.S. debt either decide to stop or start demanding much higher interest rates.

Mr. Bowles had harsh words for fellow Democrats. He dismissed the idea that raising taxes alone might help erase the deficit, saying “raising taxes doesn’t do a dern thing” to address health care costs that are projected to be a big driver of future fiscal problems.