Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.
Maybe he's got something on declining moral values, but I doubt it. Many "enlightened" parts of the world like Western Europe still consider us prudish in many ways. And as for political civility, this ain't anywhere near the worst it has been in this country. I'd wager most reasonable readers of history would consider many parts of the 19th century to be less civil than today. And as for an overconfident military, I beg to differ. This military is still the envy of the world. And while we are a bit overextended now, in a jam, we could make the logistics of WWII look like child's play. If anything, our problem is we cannot be troubled to sacrifice enough these days. Fiscal irresponsibility is a bit of an issue, but this government is no where near having a crisis of solvency. There are very few similarities between us and the decline of Rome...hell, we're still in our Republic stage. A good part of what did in Rome were the post Republic Emperors.
“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”
In my view, Mr. Walker is a touch slow.
Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress.
I'm always amused by the term "non-partisan" because there is almost no such thing. Let us not forget, Walker was appointed by Bill Clinton. Any political appointee is almost certain to be partisan to some degree.
The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”.
“With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks,” said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm.
I'll give him this much-Social Security and Medicare are problems that need to be fixed. If he thinks that government spending on health care is somehow an option or solution, then he is even more backwards than I thought. The key to holding down health care costs is to put the spending responsibilities back on the consumer. I would also agree that we want to limit our risk to foreign lenders, but lending is not a one way street. A major foreign lender like, say, China, does not benefit by torpedoing the American economy. Quite the contrary. By lending to America, they become an investor who is intrinsically interested in the success of our economy, an investor whose own economy becomes tied into ours. If anything, that plays into creating global stability.
“Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernise everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call.”It is a wake up call-a wake up call that our spending priorities are horribly out of whack thanks in part to pork. To insinuate that we cannot afford to maintain our infrastructure is a joke. Slash the pork and I'll give you more than enough funds.
This story by the Financial Times certainly is a cute one, but make no mistake, Walker has his own angle to this. Bet on it.
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