The United States is spending too much money. This observation came from David Walker, the U.S. Comptroller General during a "Fiscal Wake Up Tour,” that came to Michigan in December.

According to Walker and other financial experts who accompanied him, as a country and as individuals, the United States doesn't save nearly as much as it should and its people tend to spend more than they make, particularly regarding government-paid retirement benefits. The buy-first, ask-questions-later attitude of government and its constituents has contributed to what is projected to be a nationwide debt of $53 trillion in a matter of decades, Walker said. The U.S. economy will collapse under it's own weight by 2053 without reforms, according the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Walker's office and three Washington D.C.-area think tanks — the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institution and the Concord Coalition — have headlined this Fiscal Wake Up tour though 25 states and 30 cities in the last two years. They've spoken with major media outlets from USA Today to CBS News. To date, nobody has disputed the numbers.

"We may all solve these problems differently, but we agree on the math," said Harry Zeeve, director of the Concord Coalition. "The numbers are unsustainable."

Learn more and follow coverage of the Tour at http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/longterm/wakeuptour.html

Source: MIRS News Service 12.18.07