« on: October 19, 2009, 10:02:22 AM »
More voices saying this . . .
Gregg: U.S. could be on path to a 'banana republic' situation
Posted: October 18th, 2009 03:08 PM ET
From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A leading fiscal mind on Capitol Hill and a one-time Obama Cabinet pick sounded the alarm Sunday over the projected long-term financial challenges the country faces.
“This deficit is driven by us,†New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the federal government’s projected $1.42 trillion operating deficit for the 2009 fiscal year.
“You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States,“ the Ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “that we’re creating these massive debts which we’re passing on to our children. We’re going to undermine fundamentally the quality of life for our children by doing this.â€
“Now you can’t blame that on [former President] George [W.] Bush,†Greg said, noting that using the Obama administration’s projections the budget deficit for the next ten years is $1 trillion per year. And Gregg said that during the same ten-year period, public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product would increase from 40 percent - which Gregg called “tolerable but still too high†- up to 80 percent.
The figures, Gregg told King, “mean we’re basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country. And you just can’t do that. You can’t keep running these [federal] programs out [into the future] and not paying for them. And you can’t keep throwing debt on top of debt.â€
This is going to get worse and worse . . . but it has to be said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/18/gregg-u-s-could-be-on-path-to-a-banana-republic-situation/
Logged
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