David M. Walker served as the seventh Comptroller General of the United States and was the CEO of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008. He is
currently the president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Walker is a frequent speaker, writer, commentator, and congressional witness. He has appeared on a significant number of
television networks, cable channels, and radio programs and has written for many major publications. He's one of America's foremost independent financial experts. As comptroller general of the
United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998-2008, "the nation's top auditor" David M. Walker warned Congress, and the Clinton and George W. Bush
administrations that America faced a growing fiscal imbalance due largely to known demographic trends and rising health care costs. Unfortunately, the numbers have gotten worse and our fiscal gap
has grown dramatically in recent years. Now, as president and CEO of the non-partisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Walker works full-time to raise public awareness regarding our nation's growing
deficits, mounting debt burdens and dangerous dependency on foreign lenders.
His new book COMEBACK AMERICA (Random House; On Sale: January 12, 2010) includes a range of insightful and informative ideas all taking into account the Obama Administration's
current efforts to-date. It addresses a range of policy, operational and political reforms needed to ensure that America's future will be better than its past. The following represents an
example of the types of issues addressed and items contained in the book.
Accolades for Comeback America
"Please read this book by David Walker. No one has worked harder, been armed with more facts, written more clearly and been more dedicated to the mission of restoring confidence in our fiscal affairs and trust in government." --Paul Volcker
"Every American should read David Walker's clear analysis of our dangerous future federal budget deficits and of our current political system." -Bob Rubin
"David Walker shows us how to regain fiscal sanity and why, if we don't, we're at risk of bequeathing a lower standard of living to our children and becoming a second rate power." Bill Bradley
"Comeback America is a brilliant, factual, and highly readable account of our current fiscal predicament." - Carla Hills
"Dave Walker has lifted the hood on the federal government, diagnosed the problems, and provided a number of sensible suggestions to help restore America's greatness. If you care about our future, you'll read this book." - Ross Perot
"David Walker has drawn a true frightening and fact-based picture of a looming crisis; a crisis that will make the recent financial meltdown seem like a walk in the park. If this analysis doesn't stir you to action, nothing will." - Paul O'Neill
22 Comments
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#1
Since a friend lent me a copy of Pete Peterson's book "Runing On Empty" and meeting Dave Walker in March, 2008 I have been an active supporter of both men. They need and deserve all the support they can achieve if the USA is to survive. As an Amherst educated economist, HBS graduate and with years of experience on the ground in DC we have no choice but to listen, learn and implement.
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#2
Without question, Dave Walker brings home the truth for all Americans. His insight, leadership, and battle cry for fiscal responsibility is the benchmark by which each legislator should live by. If you are going to read only one book regarding our current fiscal condition, make it this one.
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#3
David continues to serve his country well by bringing the biggest threat to our nations leadership position in the world to the forefront for examination and debate. With the banks barely off the breathing tube, we are either going to be in a prolonged period of rehab or we will have a relapse and be back in intensive care at the cost of the US taxpayers.
The perscription has been written by the good doctor, now we need the patient(s) in congress to take the medicine and commit to a fiscally responsible future.
Best of luck with the new book and keep the pressure on the wound. -
#4
It would be a superior book if it had an index. It's remarkable that in an age when indexing is less taxing than it used to be the publisher can't spring for an index. A book with an index and the same work without an index is like the the difference between lighting and a lighting bug. Mark Twain, I believe.
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#5
I heard Mr Walker on NPR and ordered his book a day before it was released. I had never heard anyone refer to the national debt as deferred taxes, but it the most true description I have ever heard given to it. I am about 75% through the book right now, I read it between work and study breaks from my college classes. It is an easy read and my only complaint is that it is light on the graphic details that are needed, it speaks only in generalities. Yet I realize that the problem is much too complex to explain and deal with in specific terms without alienating the people you are trying to educate. It is a very good starting resource for people that want to understand the problem and I will most likely order a few more copies for family and friends.
That being said, as a real life socialist in the USA, I am not sure how much I can honestly trust you or some of the ideas you have put forth in your book. Yet I do know that I trust what you have said more than I trust anything I have heard from the DNC or GOP, at least since the Roosevelts had led the country for each respective party!
There you have it, my personal pros and cons... Keep preaching Mr Walker! I only hope someone listens to enough of what you have to say so people will not refer to you forty years from now as a prophet that should of been listened to! -
#6
Healthcare Reform
I just finished reading "Losing My Patience: Why I Quit the Medical Game" by Dr. Mickey Lebowitz and heard him speak at Barnes and Noble. He said that many doctors are leaving the profession and fewer are entering, especially as primary care physicians, as a result of the insurance/malpractice jungle. Even if were capable of reforming healthcare, we wouldn't have enough doctors/nurses anyway.
Saving for Retirement
Given today's financial, where could anyone possibly put their money so it would be available at retirement time?
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#7
" THE ANSWER " is under our ( US citizens ) feet, Natural Gas is an abundant commidity there is enough tapped and capped to fuel every home, vehicle, industry, for the next six decades, We the people own this commidity, with a simple conversion on every vehicle in America, and a mobile delivery service we will employ with good salaries ten million, we will use this American owned commidity to pay off the national deficit, and virtually eliminate foreign oil importation, and the carbon output of the converted vehicles is reduced by seventy percent. as we speak politicians are buying and leasing lands on and around all of OUR natural gas supplies, and blocking any attempts to get natural gas vehicles off the market. But Natural Gas promises to be the next big thing !!!
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#8
Give me the opportunity, and the backing,and within three months I can personally have everyone in America employed or heading toward employment with good salaries, and turn this temporary state of financial disaster into the largest most profitable year the United States has ever seen, Not" Joe the plumber",, "Dan the Gas Man",, get this to Obama and I guarantee we will be back on the right track in the USA overnight !!! Heck there will be enough left over to pay for the Health care plan !!!! browne26@comcast.net
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#9
Dear Mr. Walker,
I enjoyed reading your book, and agree with most of your recommendations/analyses. I am a retired Professor of Medicine and as such have a greater understanding of healthcare issues, compared to other issues raised in the book.
I thought that your chapter on “Curing Health Care” had a few problems. The example that you gave of your wife’s accident due to a fainting episode is open to several interpretations. Because the doctors didn’t know the cause of the episode, she was/is at risk to have another episode. A $20,000 bill to establish a correct diagnosis may have been a good use of funds. A few days in an ICU could run up a bill many times the diagnostic bill that she accrued. Without a diagnosis, there would still be concern about whether she should drive again or whether she should perform other activities that would be risky if she were to faint e.g. climbing a ladder. Perhaps your wife should have seen a physician with special expertise in evaluating fainting episodes (syncope).
Another problem with your analysis is a common one found in critiques of the health care system i.e. using comparative international rankings for life expectancy, infant mortality, and obesity. These three parameters are not good surrogate markers for the quality of the system because they are so heavily influenced by confounding variables e.g. the personal behavior of Americans. Critics also fail to acknowledge that some of the advances that greatly enhance the quality of life of some Americans, do not impact life expectancy e.g. cataract surgery and total hip replacement. (Such procedures are much more accessible to the average American than citizens of other countries.)
I hope that you find these thoughts helpful. With best regards
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#10
If you prefer having your head in the sand to facing the truth, you will not like this book. The truth, in this case, does hurt. But if enough people read this book and join this fledgling and noble movement, maybe, just maybe, it will set us free!
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#11
We have three long-term crises ahead of us:
Government debt
driven by entitlement program spending/tax cuts/war
Energy
Water.
Each of these will arrive before climate change and all have much greater impact than terrorism. The problem is that they are just over the horizon -- out of sight and out of mind for most people.
You are to be commended for tackling the fiscal problem.
We also need to create the realization that there is no more oil or gas being made to replace what is being depleted ($4.00 gas will look cheap in 10 years). By sucking these commodities out of the earth, we are doing the same thing the government has done by living on deficits. There is only so much there whether it is oil in the ground or tax revenue in the economy. Water is in the same boat, although it does get some replenishment through the hydrologic cycle. However, we are drawing out groundwater faster than it is being refilled in the aquifers and the effect is the same as for oil and gas. Seventeen major agricultural states in the USA grow crops on land where the rainfall is insufficient to support the crop level. The difference comes from irrigation from transported or pumped water. We have only to look to Australia to see what happens when we overextend agriculture and population beyond the water resources. It may look like a drought, but it is really about being "tapped out." There are alternative forms of energy (wind, solar). There is no alternative form of water.
We cannot run this country just to get through the next election. We cannot run it to get through the next decade (with apologies to 'Dan the Gas Man'). We must be thinking about the next century at least. We need a "Millenium Party" and not just a "Tea Party."
A Native American business woman was quoted in Reader's Digest as saying her heritage taught her to take into account the effect on seven generations. Not a bad concept. Perhaps we should send her to Congress. -
#12
Can the country be run with neither inflation nor deflation?
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#13
Thanks Dave! Looking forward to the work ahead.
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#14
I am writing about the chart on page 92 and life expectancy. Included in the U S numbers are homicides, accidents and obesity, factors that are at best, tangentially related to the health care system. If someone hits a tree in their car and dies, it has nothing to do with the medical system. Some of the data differences in various countries are explained at www.biggovhealth.org the U S life expectancy would not be 25 out of 34 if the non health care items were excluded.
Jim Hadley -
#15
From: Brian Hamill, Exton PA
Dave,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book and agree with almost every point you make. I am ready to join the movement.
I did find one point at the end of your book a bit disconcerting. You advocate a debt level not to exceed 125% GDP which is almost 50% higher than the 85% debt level we currently hold.
You made a very compelling case throughout the book that the current debt level is too high and will be going to critical levels as it climbs higher. I personnaly think 125% is much too high except in extreme cases (such as was the case in WW2). I would much rather see an ammendment that sets a maximum of somewhere around 50% GDP which must be achieved by 2020 and then sustained unless in times of war. I for one am not very happy with the interest I am now paying on the national debt and certainly am not willing to pay 50% higher interest payments in the future if I can help it. (With the emphasis on if I can help it)!!
Great Job,
Brian -
#16
I can explain the book in few words do not spend what you do not have.
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#17
Your book is clear and right on target. Not sure the American people are ready to acctpt the challengs. But count me in.
Keep it moving!
Kevin Connors -
#18
Would a third "Centrist" party, committed the fiscal reforms recommended in your book, make a difference?
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#19
Very succintly written.Perhaps should be distributed to congressional staff to read and discuss with their bosses. May be able to influence some change that way.
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#20
I hope some of our politicians in power will read your book. You have some great ideas for getting our country back on track.
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#21
I just finished your book and concur with most of your observations. The proposals you make seem obvious and rational. However, I am pessimistic that our elected officials will ever take the long-term approach to governing "the peoples'" country. For them, the next election is the only time frame that matters. Our dysfunctional two party government will always be reactionary, waiting for a crisis to occur then finger-pointing. I do believe that we need a constitutional amendment that requires fiscal responsibility from our government. I also think the constitution should be amended to require a review periodically, perhaps every 50 years, to ensure that it keeps up to date with the changing times. Thank you David for being a voice of reason.
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#22
Dave Walker’s book is a good read and a great source for reliable economic information. Also, given my depressed prognosis for the future of America, it was somewhat uplifting to read that our Country may have a small chance of not becoming a third world nation in the not-to-distant future. I believe this country has become a corporate oligarchy that is turning our democracy into a kleptocracy. Unless major changes can be achieved in campaign funding, controlling the rewards to senior personnel in regulation agencies from corporations being regulated and better regulation of large capital institutions I have little hope.
Walker correctly attacks our tax system for being too complex, unfair, and in need of reform. Bob N. (e-mail response #29) touts the Fair Tax bill as a means of reform and others push the flat tax. Most ideas that I have heard are perhaps better than the present IRS structure but still seem cumbersome and potentially unfair to segments of the economy. If we are going to make major changes to the federal tax codes, let’s make the people happy and do away with the income tax and the IRS.
How? Charge for the use of money. A major responsibility of a government is to provide a common medium for wealth exchange. So why not charge for the use this medium. An example of use charges; congress sets the rate for the use of a dollar at one cent. Any entity of the society that receives a dollar and puts it into the bank would pay for the use of that dollar. The bank would instantly transfer one penny to the government and deposit $0.99 in the client’s account. This process would do away with all tax breaks such as religion, charity, investment loopholes, stock trading, etc. The weight of government spending would be instantly reflected in the value of the dollar. Congress could tweak the economy by changing the use rate and be held accountable for inappropriate rates. Greater rates could be applied to cash that is removed from or replaced in the bank and to foreign currency exchanges. These higher rates would prevent the economy from moving to a cash or foreign money basis. Technology could be developed for the personal use of “smart cards” capable of card-to-card and card to machine transactions. Such cards would contain owner recognition safeguards, display account and transaction information, and transfer this information to the bank on a regular basis.
Fees on each monetary exchange makes the country much more efficient. Frivolous exchange of goods and services would be increased their costs (so long day traders!). Producers of goods and services would always look for efficient ways of production and distribution in order to minimize cost.
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