The Argentinization of America

Look out when the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institution agree on something!

Yesterday in a joint meeting on the economic outlook for the U.S., economists from both the Heritage Foundation and Brookings Institution agreed that a "budget nightmare" is coming, brought on by El Presidente's run-away spending, coupled with massive tax cuts. One of them suggested that it will turn the United States into Argentina. The Argentina of a collapsed economy and riots in the streets. That Argentina.

When? "The model [of over-spending and under-taxing] blows up in the mid-2040s."

"To do nothing," which is precisely what El Presidente's handlers intend, "would lead to deficits of the scale we've never seen in this country or in any major industrialized country." U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker forecasts U.S. debt and obligations at $45 trillion in current dollars -- almost as much as the total net worth of all Americans, or $150,000 per person. Balancing the budget in 2040, Walker said, could require cutting total federal spending as much as 60 percent or raising taxes to 2 1/2 times today's levels.

The Republican regime currently in control does not care. Vice President Cheney has said, "deficits don't matter." President Bush simply ignores projections that show deficits exploding in the near future. They want to strangle government, knock everyone but themselves off the feeding tubes, and the fastest way to that conclusion appears to be bankruptcy for the whole nation.