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The "Fiscal Wake-up Tour"

There is someone out there that is a real life super hero, taking on the biggest ugliest problems that we face as a nation and his name is David Walker. 

Who is David Walker? David M. Walker is the comptroller general of the United States, head of the Government Accountability Office, America's auditor-in-chief. Before that, he served as a Social Security and Medicare trustee, acting executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and an assistant secretary in the Department of Labor.

In his acting position he is guaranteed job security until 2013, and as such, he can speak the truth about Washington's reckless spending ... and nobody can fire him! Walker's the only government official who's honest and vocal about how bad America's economic and fiscal situation is today. And he's blunt: Unless Congress makes massive course corrections in the very near future, America's headed for bankruptcy -- while Asia and the oil-producing cartel are on a fast-track to overtake us as the world's new superpowers.

But why him, why now? Simple: Walker advocates long-term thinking, a perspective that has disappeared not just from Washington, but also from Wall Street and Corporate America. Today our nation is dominated by myopic greedy forces that cannot see past the next quarter, next election, next bonus period.

Walker doesn't like what he sees. The core problem: We're all in denial about our long-term problems. And "you can't solve a problem until the majority of the people believe you have a problem."  

A Broken Model
So Walker's has been on the campaign trail: His "Fiscal Wake-up Tour" is traveling America with town-hall style meetings to raise public awareness. He's "campaigning" on the real long-term issues, not some pet pork project, local highway, agriculture subsidy or obsolete military base that'll buy votes in the short-term. Conservative and liberal economists from both parties join him because there's a growing consensus that we're in deep financial trouble, and it's just getting worse with every day of inaction. 

Walker says America has a "broken business model," with massive, unsustainable deficits in four key areas: federal budget deficits, foreign balance-of-payment deficits, personal savings deficits and leadership deficits. Yes, America is suffering a massive "leadership deficit" at the top. And nobody can fire him. He speaks the truth, backed up with facts. If you want to read more details, go to www.gao.gov and read the speeches he's made on his "Fiscal Wake-up Tour" around America. Visit the site.  

Why is he campaigning? Because he believes America's four deficits will defeat America faster from within than Asia's growth or dictators and terrorist enemies in North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and al Qaeda.

Here's the problem in a nutshell: America is $8.5 trillion in debt today. And even adjusting for inflation, our deficits are on track to top $46 trillion within a few decades, $165,000 per citizen. Interest payments on the debt alone will exceed all the taxes collected, paralyzing the economy. And every year we delay, we're adding another $2 trillion to $3 trillion on our path to inevitable collapse and bankruptcy.  

In the past, talk of solutions proved to be political suicide: Tax increases? No! Cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits? No!
But that's exactly the hole we're digging. Boston University economist Larry Kotlikoff, co-author of " The Coming Generational Storm," says very soon the weight of America's debt will be so massive we'll have no choice but to increase taxes and reduce entitlement benefits by a combination of 40% or more. Inaction leaves many concerned economists drawing parallels to the last days of the Roman Empire.  

Unfortunately, the Senate, the House, the President and the voting public are stuck in denial about the coming storm. At all levels we have fallen into a stupor, driven by our addiction to short-term thinking; instant gratification, self-interested greed, a sense of entitlement and an arrogance that we are the world's only superpower, invincible and indestructible.  

Short Timers
We've become a nation of short-term "consumers" at all levels: Leaders, voters, workers and investors seem incapable of thinking long-term. We have a huge blind spot that prevents us from thinking about the unsustainable burden we're passing on to future generations, our kids and grandkids ... until some sudden shock, wake-up call, tipping point, a collapse, even a revolution.  

David Walker is someone who knows the numbers, he is fearless and vocal and he is spreading the word about the coming storm, attempting to wake-up America, teaching us to face up to the tough choices early enough to avoid sinking under the weight of unsustainable deficits. Hopefully, the message is heard and understood in time.