WAKE UP: Paul Volcker Says Time Is Running Out for U.S. to Tackle Coming Entitlement Crisis
Tall Paul is referring to the $60 trillion in unfunded entitlement liabilities. Can you spell generational war? Because we know that these kids can.
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The Next Generation Speaks: It's NOT My Debt!!! (WATCH)
The 56 Trillion Dollar Debt Inheritance (WATCH -- Kids Video)
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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, a top outside adviser to President Barack Obama, said time is “growing short” for the U.S. to address problems ranging from its budget deficit to Social Security obligations.
“We better get started,” the 82-year-old former central banker said in a speech yesterday in Stanford, California. “Today’s concerns may soon become tomorrow’s existential crises.”
Volcker, speaking hours after the euro fell to a four-year low against the dollar, said Europe demonstrates for the U.S. the hazards of “uncontrolled borrowing.” The European currency slid below $1.22 for the first time since April 2006 as a ban by German authorities on certain bearish investments fueled concern the region’s sovereign debt woes will worsen.
“Little has happened to allay my concerns” raised five years ago that “dangerous and intractable” problems were rising in the U.S., said Volcker, chairman of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
“Intractable not just because of the combination of complicated issues, but because there seemed to be so little willingness or capacity to do much about it,” he said during a dinner at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
Volcker said in an interview yesterday it will take “years” to restore economic balance in Europe following the debt crisis. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has been “particularly effective in maintaining the credibility of the euro,” he told Tom Keene on Bloomberg Radio.
Sense of Urgency
“In the United States, we don’t seem to me to share the same sense of urgency” as countries such as Ireland, Volcker said in his speech. “The time we have is growing short” and “there are serious questions, most immediately about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs.”
The Obama administration is forecasting a record annual budget deficit of $1.6 trillion. The shortfall is projected to be $10 trillion over the next 10 years, with interest payments on the debt forecast to quadruple to more than $900 billion annually.
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May 19, 2010 at 6:57 PM
Reader Comments (4)
Over-compensation. Often when people lie, they try too hard to be natural, and they give more detail than is necessary.
The other guy says…”presumably he wasn’t attending as a government official.”
Keep in mind that at first Volcker acts confused but then says…
He stumbles on the number of times he has attended but coincidently he this year (2009).
I did attend this year, I guess. - How coincidental if coincidences exist. What most people do not know or do not want to believe is that coincidences, even remarkable ones, are not all that surprising.
I won't take responsibility for “all of it”. - Does he feel guilty about something? What is “all of it”? What mistakes have they made, how devastating were those mistakes?
I don't think it is a secret society. – Here he is confirming the obvious.
They like to meet privately. – Again, confirming the obvious.
It's pretty benign. - Casual defensive posture, he knows what goes on there and shares too much.
I don't think they are controlling the world, probably for the better right. – Denies a charge that may have been implied but was not asked.
All that for a simple question, that’s how children often answer simple question…Charlie, did you eat the chocolate ice cream?
Um, I don’t even like chocolate ice cream. My favorite is vanilla. I think I have only eaten chocolate ice cream three times, like I did last night. I was with my little brother in the kitchen, I am not going to take responsibility for “all of it”. I don’t think chocolate ice cream is bad for you but I am probably better off for not eating it. It’s pretty benign if I had eaten the ice cream but ummm, I’m sorry, what was the question?
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/98409-senate-budget-chairman-says-prospect-for-budget-resolution-fading-
Yesterday you posted the BEST string of videos (15) EVER.
TODAY they're all gone. Just like me.
rlr...not sure what you are talking about...the videos are at the link above...haven't been moved...