In two years, the U.S. economy will resemble that of Greece when the debt crisis began there, says David M. Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General and current CEO of the Comeback America Initiative.
The United States has never carried so much debt as it does today ever save during World War II, when such hefty borrowing and spending was needed to halt a devastatingly widespread war.
The United States, Walker tells the Worcester Economic Club, ranks 28th out of 34 countries in terms of fiscal responsibility, with the debt-heavy Greece coming in at last place.
"We’re about two years away from where Greece was when it had its debt crisis," Walker says, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
"The fact of the matter is government is not the engine of growth, innovation and job creation," Walker says, adding "spending is a bipartisan problem" that has gotten out of control in the last decade.
While federal spending was 2 percent of the gross domestic product in 1800, it hit 23.8 percent in 2011 and is on track to hit 36.8 by 2040, according to Walker.
Furthermore the U.S. spends double per person what other industrialized nations do on healthcare and education, while military spending should not be immune to budget cuts either.
"We can, we must and we will reduce defense spending," Walkers says.
President Barack Obama sent a $3.8 trillion budget proposal to Congress recently, and Republicans have pointed out that while the president is quick to hike taxes on the wealthy, he's not so quick to cut spending, which the country really needs.
"Instead of leading the effort to bring down our debt and make tough choices, the president is proposing that we spend more and more," says Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington state, according to CNN.
"All his wasteful spending puts us deeper in debt to China. All his tax hikes would destroy jobs and make it tougher to compete with China."
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