Economic Tsunami

selections from an article by Richard Wolf in USA TODAY on Nov 14th
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-14-fiscal-hurricane-cover_x.htm

"We face a demographic tsunami" that "will never recede," [the comptroller general of the United States] David Walker tells a group of reporters. He runs through a long list of fiscal challenges...

To hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is "worse than advertised," he says. It has a "broken business model." It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings — and its leadership.

Without major spending cuts, tax increases or both, the national debt will grow more than $3 trillion through 2010, to $11.2 trillion — nearly $38,000 for every man, woman and child. The interest alone would cost $561 billion in 2010, the same as the Pentagon [budget].

Inaction could have these consequences, experts say:
Higher interest rates.
Lower wages.
Shrinking pensions.
Slower economic growth.
A lesser standard of living.
Higher taxes in the future for today's younger generation.
Less savings.
More consumption.
Plunging stock and bond prices.
Recession.

my comment: would you settle for 3 out of ten? 5 out of ten? why?
'staying the course' with Dubya will deliver TEN out of ten as above