I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [42]
The United States runs a great risk of following in the foot-steps of other democracies that have descended and decayed.
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82 The
Mission
“ If you look at what ’ s happened to great republics in the past, ” says David Walker, “ they generally have not fallen because of external threats. They ’ ve fallen because of internal threats. Let ’ s look at Rome as an example, which is the longest - standing republic in the history of mankind. The Roman republic fell for many reasons but three seem to resonate today: declining moral values and political civility at home; overconfi dent and overextended militarily around the world; and fi scal irresponsibility by the central government. You know we need to wake up, recognize reality, and make sure that we start making tough choices sooner rather than later so that we can be the fi rst republic to stand the test of time. ”
“ Washington Is Badly Broken ”
Paul O ’ Neill refused to compromise when it came to making decisions that he knew would affect not only Americans today, but also future generations. David Walker and the Fiscal Wake - Up Tour participants have a similar goal. By warning Americans about what is ahead for their country if action isn ’ t taken now, and educating them on the fi scal problems the United States has, they hope to empower the average citizen to become involved in insisting that changes are made. And from what we saw, the attendees at the town hall meetings they were hosting were ready for a change.
By the time we joined them at a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, after 18 months of intermittent fi lming, the Fiscal Wake - Up Tour had visited 23 cities.
“ It ’ s a lot of fun being able to get out and meet people, ”
says David Walker. “ It gives you a lot of energy and it gives you a lot of hope. When you state the facts and speak the truth to the American people, they get it and they ’ re ahead of their elected offi cials. We can ’ t borrow our way out of this problem.
Anyone who tells you we can does not study economic history and is probably not very good at math. ”
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Chapter 5 The Leadership Defi cit 83
“ Here ’ s the thing about the future, ” Bixby chimes in. “ If you knew that a levee was unsound and you knew people were moving into the area and you knew they were at risk, would you stand by and do nothing and say nothing about it?
Of course not — that would be irresponsible. Yet that ’ s what we ’ re doing as a nation to the future. We know we have this problem, we know that the fi scal/federal levees are unsound, we know that the structure ’ s not sound for the long term. And yet we ’ re ushering future generations in and saying nothing about it, doing nothing about it, and that ’ s the immoral part of it. ”
Indeed, Washington is “ badly broken, ” as David often says in his presentations at the town hall meetings and in interviews.
Americans can ’ t continue to rely on their government to make the tough choices that are needed to restore the U.S. economy.
When many Americans think of debt and defi cits, their knee -
jerk reaction is to blame it on the war in Iraq, or on defense spending. Some people think that we can solve the country ’ s fi nancial problems by stopping fraud, waste, and abuse, or by canceling the Bush tax cuts. The truth is, the United States could do all three of these things and still would not come close to solving the nation ’ s fi scal challenges. (See Figure 5.1. ) 2008 Federal Debt $9.7 TRILLION
2008 Federal Spending $2.9 trillion
Social Security $610 billion
Defense Department $479 billion
Medicare $330 billion
Interest on the Debt $244 billion
2008 Budget Items
(a partial list)
Source: President's 2009 Budget
Figure 5.1 Where the Money Goes c05.indd 83
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84 The
Mission
The United States already has
$ 11 trillion in fi scal
liabilities, including public debt. To this amount, add the current unfunded obligations for Social Security benefi ts of about