February 16, 2008

Comptroller General, GAO head David Walker quits; dire warnings about deficit spending; "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour"

David Walker - until Friday the U.S. Comptroller General and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) - has quit apparently in order to continue warning about overspending and the general dire condition he perceives we're in without being hampered in what he can say. He'll be joining the new Peter G. Peterson Foundation, founded by a billionaire buyout specialist who's endorsed John McCain (link, called "less a Wall Street titan than a persistent Jeremiah who for 26 years now has prophesied that fiscal and trade deficits will lead to a financial Armageddon" here).

Walker has taken part in a series of public forums called the "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour" (link), and from this:

Walker last year issued an unusually downbeat assessment of his country's future in a report that drew parallels with the end of the Roman empire.

He had warned that the US government was 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 was not taken soon.

There were "striking similarities" between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, he had said.

These included "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government."

Posted to Politics at February 16, 2008 11:58 AM

Lonewacko

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