August 14, 2007 (LPAC)--The United States will go down like the Roman Empire if critical economic and strategic crises are not corrected, warned U.S. comptroller general David Walker in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times published today.
Walker, who has made such warnings ever since the beginning of 2005 when he began a "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour" that has now reached 25 cities and 21 states across the U.S., told the FT that the U.S. government is on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies. At a time when the system is crashing, here is what Walker said in a report he issued on August 7 entitled "Transforming Government to meet the Demands of the 21st Century": "There are striking similarities between America's current situation and that of another great power from the past: Rome. The Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, but only about half that time as a republic. The Roman Republic fell for many reasons, but three reasons are worth remembering: declining moral values and political civility at home, an overconfident and overextended military in foreign lands, and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government. Sound familiar? 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."
Walker told the FT that the current fiscal imbalance means the U.S. is "on a path toward an explosion of debt.... With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiraling health care costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks." Current U.S. policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq is also on an "unsustainable path.... Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernize everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call." Up to this point Walker appears to be a genius, that is, until you look at what he is proposing, which would in fact bring about a more rapid demise of the American Republic than of the Roman Republic. Although the federal executive board which he heads recently changed its name from the General Accounting Office to the Government Accountability Office, Walter is unfortunately afflicted with an accountant's mentality. Therefore, rather than proposing a reorganization of the entire bankrupt financial system and launching a capital budget approach to rebuilding infrastructure and increasing real productivity as proposed by Lyndon LaRouche, Walker can only propose "fiscal discipline." According to him "If we continue as we have, policy makers will eventually have to raise taxes dramatically and/or slash government services.... Tough choices must be made, and the sooner the better."
And who is Walker's favorite 20th century U.S. President? Perhaps the man who got us out of the last depression and defeated fascism--Franklin D. Roosevelt? No, not FDR, but rather the British Empire-loving, Confederate, Theodore Roosevelt. And what does he cite as the precedent for the needed reforms? The successful efforts of Hamilton, Lincoln and FDR, which led to the economic greatness of the U.S.? No. He says the two best examples for the actions required are Australia and New Zealand, two members of the British Commonwealth, where people are dying in the streets.
Walker is like the man who, while warning that the Roman Republic is collapsing, enters the Coliseum to cheer for the lions.
