Unfunded Liabilities

Even worse than the nine trillion national debt is what the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says is now $50.5 trillion in unfunded future pension liabilities. David Walker, head of the GAO, has been trying to be a Paul Revere on this. He has been speaking around the Country and testifying before Congressional Committees to try to warn people about this problem, which is huge now and headed higher at an unfortunately fast rate. This means that if federal spending continues at present or higher levels, we will not be able to pay military and civil service pensions, social security, Medicare and other commitments 10 or 15 years from now without greatly inflating money (which means pensions will buy less), or cutting benefits, or raising taxes to a level our economy could not sustain. Mr. Walker said on 60 Minutes July 8 that he "would argue that the most serious threat to the U.S. is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility." He called it a "fiscal cancer" which if we do not take drastic action will have "catastrophic consequences."