I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [4]
It didn ’ t take long before his real purpose became clear: He wanted me to head his new foundation.
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Foreword xv
Needless to say, I was fl attered and surprised. And yet I was very happy with my current job and the work I was doing at GAO. While I noted that fact and raised a number of reasons why I felt it probably did not make sense for me to change, Pete was persistent. A couple of months of discussion later, I decided to accept his offer.
My primary reason for deciding to accept was that I became convinced that at my new post I would be able to do certain things to help achieve changes that I could not do as Comptroller General. As the president and CEO of the Peterson Foundation I would be able to advocate specifi c policy solutions, build strong and overt coalitions for change, and stimulate and support the various grassroots efforts designed to pressure Washington policy makers to make tough choices — and to hold them accountable if they failed to act.
I was also interested in working in partnership with Pete, who is a great American and in many ways a case study of the American dream come true.
As I said when asked about leaving my position as Comptroller General and head of the GAO, “ Committed generals do not leave the fi ght, although sometimes they change their position on the battlefi eld. ” I said that we aim to “ keep America strong and the American dream alive by promoting responsibility and accountability today in order to provide more opportunity tomorrow. ”
After joining the Foundation, I proposed and the directors agreed that the Foundation should purchase the documentary from Agora and fi nance its distribution. We are excited about its message and feel strongly that the time is right for it to be heard.
We look forward to the theatrical release of the fi lm and to its later premier on television. We also plan to take other steps to make sure that it is ultimately seen by as many people as possible.
In my view, it is time for elected offi cials to start making tough policy choices in connection with our nation ’ s budget, entitlement programs, spending policies, and tax policies.
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xvi Foreword
Our next president needs to make fi scal responsibility and intergenerational equity a priority. If he does, and if he resists making dumb promises, while using the bully pulpit of the presidency and working on a bipartisan basis to achieve real and lasting change, we can successfully meet this challenge.
If this happens, and a few bipartisan leaders join in the fi ght, we can make sure that our future is better than our past and that the United States is the fi rst republic to stand the test of time. These are goals worth fi ghting for. “ We the People ”
can turn things around. If you agree, then join the fi ght for America ’ s future at www.pgpf.org. You, your country, and your family will be glad that you did.
Honorable David M. Walker
President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation Former Comptroller General of the United States flast.indd xvi
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I.O.U.S.A. Cast of Characters
CAST
Hon. David Walker: Former U.S. Comptroller General and President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
Robert Bixby: Executive Director of the Concord Coalition.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND): Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH): Ranking member, Senate Budget Committee.
Alice Rivlin: The fi rst director of the Congressional Budget Offi ce and on the team that balanced the budget during the Clinton administration.
William Bonner: Bestselling author and founder and president of Agora, Inc., a fi nancial research and publishing group.
The Concerned Youth of America: A grassroots, non-partisan organization whose goal is to increase awareness of the state of the U.S.’s fi nances among the youth of the nation.
Robert Rubin: 70th Secretary of the U.S. Treasury (1995–1999), one of the key players in the Clinton administration’s balanced budget.
Peter G. Peterson: Co-founded the Concord Coalition in