Wake Up, America! David Walker, Fiscal Responsibility, and America’s Addiction to Debt

On February 3, 2010, The Commonwealth Club lecture featured David M. Walker, former Comptroller of the United States and author of the book Comeback America: Turning America Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility. Mr. Walker has some intriguing ideas about healthcare reform, Social Security and Medicare, taxes, education, and a whole slew of other timely issues that touch all of our lives.

One particularly jolting statistic that Mr. Walker notes in his speech is the fact that within twelve years, unless the U.S. changes the way we approach fiscal spending, the single largest line item in the federal budget will be interest on the federal debt. He asks with a touch of irony: "What do we get for interest on the federal debt? Absolutely nothing."

Mr. Walker notes: "Great powers do not stay great if they're not economically strong. Great powers are not debtor nations; they are creditor nations. And we are the world's largest debtor nation."

At the end of the interview, an audience member asked about I.O.U.S.A, a documentary featuring Mr. Walker about fiscal responsibility and the dangerous threat that fiscal irresponsibility poses for America. In Mr. Walker's mind, fiscal irresponsibility poses a greater threat to our country than terrorism abroad. It's a compelling argument and one that should wake all of us up to the tremendous challenge facing our modern American society and lifestyle.

I.O.U.S.A. has a follow-up called I.O.U.S.A. Solutions, which will be posted within the next few months on the Internet for free and made available to schools and other institutions.

You can view the speech on The Commonwealth Club's blog:

http://commonwealthclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/david-walker-takes-on-americas-fiscal.html

To listen to the audio version of the lecture, you can download the audio file in RealAudio format.

For a bit of humor on the subject, view David Walker's recent interview on The Daily Show:

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