Comptroller General of the United States: Learn from the Fall of Rome
August 14th, 2007Conspiracy theorist? Crackpot? Uh, U.S. Comptroller General.
Via: Financial Times:
The US government is on a “burning platform†of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.
David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulationsâ€.
These include “dramatic†tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.
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 governmentâ€.
“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.â€
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.
While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volumeâ€. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated withâ€.
“I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,†he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on.
“One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,†said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term.
The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debtâ€.
“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.
Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an “unsustainable pathâ€.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t this what’s called in “intelligence” terms a “limited modified hang-out” or something along those lines i.e. when the big, big crash comes (and it is coming along quite shortly unless you can’t see it due to being a blind moron or “in with the boys” ala Rush/OReilly/Hannity/Barry Seal(deceased) – Traitors Inc. etc. hoping to profit from our misery w/their Overlord Masters) this type of shit will be used on the front of the NYTwit and Pravda On The Potomac WaHo to give “plausible deniability” to dispute those who will accurately state that this coming “collapse” was all planned carefully for years and “they” will then point to “independent” reports like this one to say: “Ya see, it was all incompetence, incompetence, incompetence, blah, blah, blah – – that’s how the USA became a third (fourth?) world country for you peons, incompetence so suck it down w/o complaint you losers – – who are now equal to the slaves in fascist China and the 1% of us up here (Bushco, Rock-child etc.) who now have “accidentally” ended up w/everything, and I do mean everything of value, in the now feudal United States of Slavery we will all be living in got here by incompetence and “accident”” (- – in a government that now “suppresses” all valid scientific info, and threatens everyone who tries to release anything truthful, this slips thru? Please.)
The coming crash, actually now upon us, will make the Great Depression look like good times – – have some “freedom fries” w/a born again Jasus lovin’ congressman/whore master in a diaper, he’s your “representative” in Congrass – – it’s just about here and this type disclosure is put out only, and I mean only, to be used as psych warfare against those patriots who will, accurately, point out that the entire crash has been engineered and in the works for years and is not the product of the “incompetence” we are forever hearing about but a carefully executed inside job, just like 80s S&L Bank “failures” by the “Bushies”, the mass murder of 9ll etc. et nauseum – – Do you think the “standard of living” of the “Bushies” and Rock-childs et al will be hurt in anyway by the coming “explosion of debt” . . . it’s really comical but not so b/c billions are just about ready to be “departed” by our overlords economically, biologically . . . fuk them, I predict it back fires big time, but it takes alot of good people out with these pieces of dog shit . . . .
Just when I think I can’t take it anymore- being one of the many tasked with auditing the US govment (mispell intentional), David Walker says something like he did today. The daily email from the GAO included this one today – slide one or so – an “on fire platform” and 20 are most interesting,
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d071192cg.pdf, and very unusual. It is a VERY RARE OCCURENCE for ANY FEDERAL OFFICIAL to GO OUT THERE as David Walker has been doing the last several years. And in my 16 years of auditing experience I HAVE NEVER SEEN findings of FRAUD, WASTE, And ABUSE – such as those detected by the IG for IRAQI Reconstrution, and/or HALIBURTON shoved under the rug.
In the good old (pre-Bush) days – HALIBURTON WOULD HAVE BEEN DISBARRED FROM CONTRACTING WITH THE US GOVMENT based on the audits from when they did work in Kosovo!!! – and if Haliburton wanted to contest this they would have to go through the GAO. BushCo has somehow short circuited every oversight mechanism existant. This has occurred, I believe, with the infusion of the political into every function of the U.S. government. Used to be, everyone followed the Federal Acquisition Regulations in contracting for services. But now, its a freaking political game. I just don’t know how this will all play out. When or who will require or have the power to hold the Pentagon accountable for the billions missing on their financial statements? I for one, would NOT want to be David Walker.
Believe me, the shit flows downhill, and when anyone in the House or Senate who gives two shits about finance finally figures out the extent of the fraud occuring at the Pentagon, the BLAME for all of it will lay on David Walkers shoulders.
That’s how it goes in the US Government. Those responsible for oversight are blamed for not catching the crooks, even as the other hand perpetrates the crime, and the other doesn’t have a freakin’ clue as to how such a freaking robbery occurred on their watch.
Send blessings David Walker’s way, if you have the mind to.
I also meant to add to my lengthy commment – if there is an equivalent of Mike Whitney -in the U.S. gov – it is David Walker.
This is a stunning public position for the head of a U.S. Government agency. Sure, lots of underlings resign and say things like this. Usually, nobody hears about it. But this is remarkable.
I agree that this reeks of CYA. He has to know that it’s vastly too late to save the USA from going down the drain.