by Mark Luedtke

Created on: March 25, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2011

I hope you have a spare $400,000 laying around because that's your share of the US government debt. The US government is bankrupt to the tune of $58 trillion, and in order to pay off that debt, every household in America would have to pay $400,000 today. Because long-term debt compounds just like interest, the debt increases $2-3 trillion per year, so every year we wait to fix the problem, the more painful solving it becomes. The looming debt crisis is the greatest threat facing America, and few people know it because few people talk about it. This isn't the short term economic problem discussed on the news. It's been nearly a century in the making, and requires a long term commitment to fix.

David Walker recently resigned from his office as US Comptroller General in the Government Accountability Office. Mr. Walker was the government's top accountant, appointed to a 15 year term during the Clinton administration. While Mr. Walker was in office, he crusaded against rampant government spending, informing every official in Washington that the US government was already bankrupt. Our representatives tried to silence him, ignored the problem, and continued irresponsible spending.

Frustrated by government officials but protected by his 15 year term, Mr. Walker took his crusade to the people. He toured the country for the last several years, lecturing on the consequences of our rapidly increasing debt. He explained the country can never afford to pay for the entitlements promised to the baby-boomers, who started retiring this year, and future retirees.

Despite Mr. Walker's best efforts, you probably never heard of him or of the debt catastrophe. Because our government actively tried to suppress Mr. Walker's crucial message and because the press largely ignored him, Mr. Walker resigned his office to take a position at a new think tank to address the problem.

Here's few facts from an appearance by Mr. Walker on the Glenn Beck show, explaining the more painful costs to fix the problem in 2008 versus if we had fixed it in 2003:

* Increase federal income taxes by 74% versus 69%
* Increase payroll taxes by 103% versus 95%
* Cut federal spending by 115% versus 106%
* Cut Medicare and Social Security by 47% versus 45%

Raising taxes that high would drive us deeply into recession, accelerating economic collapse. The best option to avoid the looming debt crisis, which could make the Great Depression look like a bad week at work depending on how long we take to address it,

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