Beat the clock

No less an authority than the Congressional Budget Office, the official surveyor of federal income and expense, predicts disaster for the nation's purse unless drastic steps are taken to decrease spending and increase revenues to the treasury (read higher taxes). The crunch is not far off, given the imminent growth of demand upon the federal fisc in the form of dramatically higher numbers of social security claimants as boomers begin to retire.

"Failing to act would drive the accumulated federal debt to unsustainable levels, said the study, released Friday. 'Taken to the extreme, such a path could result in an economic crisis,' including the possibilities that foreign investors would pull out, the dollar's value plunge, interest rates and prices soar and stock markets collapse.

"'The longer that lawmakers delay acting to counter an unsustainable budgetary situation, the larger the spending cuts or tax increases will eventually have to be,' the 60-page study warned."

I can just see the White House folks, praying they can put off the catastrophe until the election. For my part, I hope the slide into disaster starts soon, so the blame may be laid at Bush's feet, where it surely belongs, and so we have a chance to elect someone who will take steps to alleviate the inevitable pain of Bush's no-tax-much-spend policies.