Originally published September 26 2013
Greenspan admits 'no viable long-term solution' to America's soon-to-fail system of debt and despair
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) We have been warning readers that, because of our nation's worsening fiscal condition, the United States government is at serious risk of collapsing under a mountain of unsustainable debt.
Right now, the "official" federal debt is approaching $17 trillion; the total debt is about 105 percent of annual gross domestic product, the yearly sum of all goods and services produced by the world's largest economy.
But real economists take into account the "hidden" debt figure, which accounts for all of the unfunded liabilities - promises of benefits that lawmakers and presidents have made over the years to buy votes and curry favor with key constituencies - at a mind-boggling $125 trillion.
Well, to be frank, there's just no way to pay that. There isn't enough wealth on the planet. The U.S. Treasury is already cranking out about $1 trillion a year, but that's phony money. Even then, it would take more than a century to print enough to pay our unfunded liabilities.
Now, even the 'insiders' are predicting economic demise
All sorts of economic experts, to include our founding editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, have been warning about this. And now, the consummate "insider" himself has warned that our current economic path is not just unsustainable but liable to plunge the nation into chaos, political and otherwise.
In his new book, The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says unless we can convince both sides of the political aisle in D.C. to come together to seriously reform entitlements and other government programs (Obamacare being only the latest, if not the largest, of them), we're screwed:
Our highest priority going forward is to fix our broken political system. Short of that, there is no viable long-term solution to our badly warped economy. In America we are being pulled apart politically in ways unrivaled since the aftermath of the 1929 crash. ...
My first realization of a striking shift in our politics was brought to my attention by the staunch conservative three-term senator from Utah, Robert Bennett. He feared that despite his strong approval ratings, his 2010 reelection bid was by no means secure. In his 2004 reelection, Bennett won 69 percent of the vote. His problem, as he stated it, was unexpected contenders for his Senate seat from his political RIGHT. [The 18-year veteran finished third at the Utah Republican convention and his seat is now held by Sen. Mike Lee, an instigator of the effort to shut down the government over Obamacare.] [notes kept from Politco] It was my first awareness of what later came to be known as the Tea Party, a political movement that emerged in 2009 and became a powerful force in the 2010 election. ...
'The bias toward unconstrained deficit spending is our top domestic economic problem'
It's odd that Greenspan would make such an off-handed reference to the so-called "Tea Party" movement, considering it was born out of Americans' desire for fiscal responsibility in the nation's capital. It's like he's blaming the only fiscally conservative movement out there for being part of the reason why lawmakers can't seem to come together to cut spending and reform entitlements. That is precisely what the movement advocates - but I digress.
More from Greenspan:
Both uncompromising sides of our ongoing debate on fiscal and other issues need to recognize that financial crisis lurks should we fail to resolve our deeply disruptive fiscal imbalance. And that imbalance is far greater than the official data portray [because of contingent liabilities to the U.S. government from possible rescues of large financial firms and iconic nonfinancial firms] ...
At risk is the status the American economy has held as the preeminent world economic power for more than a century. ... The bias toward unconstrained deficit spending is our top domestic economic problem.
So there you have it. The former Fed chairman himself says our current fiscal path is unsustainable.
Maybe when the collapse actually happens, the sheep will awaken. But of course, then it will be too late - for them, anyway.
Sources:
http://www.politico.com
http://www.usdebtclock.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
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