An easy way to visualize America’s debt problem

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt8hTayupE]

I like this video.

You can visualize the magnitude of our national debt problem and how it is driven by entitlement programs. This video was made before Obamacare was passed. The picture is only going to get worse once it kicks in in its entirety.

We have to get a grip on entitlements and our nation’s unfunded liabilities.

Can our political parties work together to curtail our spending?  I don’t think so. My skepticism is fueled after seeing what Iowa’s lame duck Governor, Chet Culver, just did. He gave unionized state workers a $100 million raise a year, on top of the lavish benefits they already enjoy.

If we can’t fix Iowa’s problem, how can we fix the nation’s financial mess?

Governor Culver was thrown out of office because of concerns about Iowa’s dramatic spending increases under his administration. Democrats lost the House and many seats in the Senate.

Despite voter’s clear signal that they want the spending to stop, Governor Culver made the choice to ignore their concerns in favor of throwing some expensive political bones to a core constituency: unionized government workers.

Politics trump fiscal responsibility with Democrats these days. Republicans are swimming upstream with a lead weight tied to their ankle in their attempt to clean up this mess.

Governor Culver is asking working class Iowans to lower their standard of living even more to pay for these pay raises for folks who already earn more than the rest of us.

The honorable thing to do would have been to let incoming Governor-elect, Terry Branstad, conclude the union negotiations. Now Mr.Branstad is faced with unpleasant choices: increase taxes during a recession to pay for Culver’s mess; or lay off state workers.

Farewell, Governor Culver.  We shall not miss ye.