U.S. Comptroller General warns the nation of economic calamity...

NewsMax reported on August 3, 2006:

The Comptroller General of the United States warns the nation will go broke within a generation - unless it takes radical steps now to rein in out-of-control federal spending.

In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Comptroller David M. Walker, explained his mission: Save America from the brink of financial disaster.

Walker has revealed America's collision course in computer simulations that show balancing the budget in 2040 (under the status quo of spending like there's no tomorrow) could require cutting total federal spending by an incredible 60 percent - or raising federal taxes 200 percent over today's level.

Serving a 15-year appointed term that began when he took his oath of office on Nov. 9, 1998, this no-nonsense certified public accountant is the nation's chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Walker has won plaudits from both Republicans and Democrats for his no-nonsense straight talk about the nation's current economic crisis.

In his wide-ranging interview with NewsMax, Walker offered a candid assessment of the problems and risks facing Americans over the next several decades.

Among his key assessments:

Prescription Drugs:: Walker says that the prescription drug plan is the "poster case for what is wrong with Washington."

He notes that when Congress first took up the matter of Medicare prescription drugs, estimates placed the cost at $300 billion.

But he argues that both Congress and the administration simply downplayed or ignored the true costs of the program. Today, the nation will have to pay out for the program $8 trillion-plus in current dollar terms.

Walker also detailed that when the Medicare actuary of the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services calculated the true costs of the program, he "was told he could not tell the Congress or else he might lose his job."

"That not only was unethical but it was illegal, and nobody has been held accountable for it," an angry Walker said.

Defense Budget: Walker argues that Defense Department simply is out of control and that basic rules of accountability don't apply.

He said that although it received a whopping $500 billion in appropriations, the Defense Department "is the only agency in the federal government that cannot adequately account for its assets and its expenditures - and cannot withstand an outside financial statement audit."

Walker grades the agency with a "D" on "economy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability." He added, "And it has not been held accountable."

The Nation's Debt: Walker says the United States risks losing its pre-eminence around the globe because of its growing status as a debtor nation.

He ominously notes that "last year was the first year since 1933 that Americans spent more money than they took home and, as you probably recall, 1933 was not a good year for the United States."

Because the United States has to rely on foreign central banks to finance its deficits, it places itself in a high-risk situation.

"It means that other players hold an increasing percentage of our nation's mortgage; and it means the debt service is going to go overseas rather than domestic; and it means that we will have less leverage on them with regard to economic, foreign policy and national security issues - and they will have more leverage on us."

Entitlements: The United States must rein in entitlement programs or face economic woes, he argues.

Walker says that today the United States is "about 3 percent short of the GDP between what we are taking in and what we are spending, and it is going to get worse when the [baby] boomers start to retire - primarily because of entitlement programs.

"You can't solve the problem without fundamental reform of the entitlement programs. Medicare is going to require much more dramatic and fundamental reforms than Social Security because the problem is six to seven times greater than Social Security.

"It is going to take entitlement reform; it is going to take spend constraint; and it is going to take some revenue enhancements."

Walker's Mission

Walker's frequent refrain is simply, "The status quo is not an option!"

He's been telling his story to Congress, the media, and anyone else who will listen.

His globetrotting has included speaking appearances at Gresham College London, England; the London School of Economics; the Atlanta Rotary Club; the National Press Foundation; and the National Conference of State Legislatures - just to name a few.

Walker likes slide shows – to better facilitate the ominous graphs and charts that highlight his message.

The long-term modeling that is at the heart of his warning is adapted from work done at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the various new estimates that become available from the Congressional Budget Office and from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees.

Walker is not overly impressed with the recently touted spurt of economic growth and its accompanying windfall of unexpected federal revenues.

"Faster economic growth can help, but it cannot solve the problem," the straight-shooting former public trustee for Social Security and Medicare emphasizes.

Here's where Walker typically clicks on one of his attention-grabbing slides on the subject.

The audience digests as the GAO chief reads from the screen:

Closing the current long-term fiscal gap based on reasonable assumptions would require real average annual economic growth in the double-digit range every year for the next 75 years.

During the 1990s, the economy grew at an average 3.2 percent per year.

"We cannot simply grow our way out of this problem," he announces somberly.

When playing to a home crowd of working stiffs, Walker follows with another body blow that penetrates the reality world of mom and pop: It's called, benignly enough, "Our Total Fiscal Burden." But when broken down as to show the impact on every man, woman, and child in the country, it can knock the wind from the collective lungs.

Up pops another eye-widening slide:

Total fiscal exposures: $46.4 trillion.

Total household net worth: $51.1 trillion.

Burden/net worth ratio: 91 percent.

Forget the accounting jargon; what's my personal bill for my government's runaway spending?

As if to say "Glad you asked that," there follows the grim tally:

Per person: $156,000.

Per full-time worker: $375,000.

Per household: $411,000.

Gee, that sounds a bit extreme. Can our pocketbooks handle that tab?

Just how extreme is explained by the next slide:

Median U.S. household income: $44,389.

Disposable personal income per capita: $30,431.

After learning that we are a wee bit short on the greenbacks, Walker switches back to the macro-picture, revealing yet another disturbing picture:

"The United States may be the only superpower, but compared to most other OECD countries [countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] on selected key economic, social, and environmental indicators, on average, the U.S. ranks 16 out of 28," announces Walker to an accompanying slide.

Included in those OECD indicators are such down-to-earth items as quality of life, education, and prices.

Walker, the author of "Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future," is for sure no administration spinner.

He will tell you that he is only following a grand tradition of the bipartisan GAO, which for more than a decade has published the results of its long-term budget simulations in reports and testimonies.

Well, at least some of the states are doing well these days - those increased property values and all . . .

Don't get too wound up on that front, warns Walker. States are reeling under their own fiscal challenges, including unsustainable Medicaid cost increases; unfunded liabilities of state retirement systems; education funding squeezed by competing demands; infrastructure maintenance and expansion needs given unparalleled sprawl and congestion; and - lest we forget - emergency preparedness response and recovery needs.

The bottom line, according to Walker: "We must make tough choices, and the sooner the better."

The chief financial overseer advises that a multipronged approach is needed:

Revise existing budget processes and financial reporting requirements.

Restructure existing entitlement programs.

Re-examine the base of discretionary and other spending.

Review and revise tax policy and enforcement programs - including tax expenditures.

"Everything must be on the table," says Walker.

While not an optimist, Walker does see some progress. He happily points out that the White House now "readily acknowledge now that we face a huge long-range structural deficit that has to be addressed."

Meanwhile, beating the drum for fiscal reform is but one facet of the immense GAO workload.

Walker's agency must advise not only Congress, but the heads of executive agencies -- such as Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, and Health and Human Services -- about making government more effective and responsive.

To do the job, Walker heads up some 3,200 employees and manages a budget of $474.5 million.

At the end of fiscal 2005, 85 percent of the 1,752 recommendations the GAO made in fiscal year 2001 had been implemented, notes the agency. But is the all-important keeper of the federal purse strings, the Congress, reacting to Walker's big-picture warnings of fiscal crisis ahead?

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The awesome Bayside Prophecies...  https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm  
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

A Godless Nation shall fall! . . .
Our Lady - "Without My Son you are lost. A godless nation shall fall. A nation that has been eaten away and rotted by sin shall fall. A nation that has turned itself back and regressed to a state of animal living bordering on all sins of the flesh and impurity; given over to all manner of seeking things of the world; power, lust, envy, hate, murders, abortions, worship of false idols; loving money, power, and lacking the instinct of survival when survival can only be reached by pleading from them to the merciful heart of the Eternal Father." (6-13-81)

A planned Great Depression . . .
    Jesus - "My child and My children, pray a constant vigilance of prayer.  Keep this going throughout the United States and all of the nations of the world, for there is little time left. Soon, in the plans of the Eternal Father, He shall set forth and allow to come upon mankind, a great money disaster.  In this way it will prove to you that the disaster back in the 1920's, My children, was as nothing compared to what will happen now.  I talk of a great depression coming upon mankind." (10-1-88)

Destruction of the World Monetary Systems . . .
    Our Lady - "You will understand and broadcast the message to the world that there will be a great destruction in the monetary systems of the world.  It will affect both the United States and Canada, and all the great powers of the world. And I repeat again:  You will go to your stores to do your shopping carrying papers which may as well be newspapers, for the value they will have to purchase even food will be nil.
    "How can a great country like the United States fall, you say, My child?  You ask Me in your heart. I read your heart.  I will tell you why. Because they have given themselves over to satan.  When a country has lost its morality and seeks the pleasures of the flesh, giving over, themselves over, to all manner of abominations, like homosexuality, and condoning this up the highest courts of the land, then that country shall fall." (11-1-85)

Gathering of the world's money to control the masses . . .
    Jesus - "Man shall not create a new world as he seeks.  For there cannot be a lasting world without His God.  And I speak not of the false idols and gods that man creates in his human nature!  There is only one Creator.
    "You who cast aside this knowledge and choose to set yourselves up by power and the gathering of the world's money to control the masses, you will find that all of your power and all of your volumes of gold and silver cannot hold back the heavens as they descend upon you in a just chastisement.  The world, the earth shall tremble, fear shall come upon mankind as he watches the approach of the destruction that he himself has chosen to set loose." (2-10-78)

Evil Force like an Octopus . . .
    Our Lady - "There is a great evil force now enshrouding your world; it is like an octopus reaching out in every direction to ensnare the world.  It is a force of evil set up by satan.  There are many arms of the octopus controlled by the monies of the world.
    "For the love of money and riches, many will sell their souls to get to the head. O My children, what do you gain if you gather all of the riches of the world and destroy your soul. When you come over the veil, and you will come over the veil, what will you bring with you - nothing of the material.  You must gather your riches in Heaven now.  They are supernatural: the graces, the merits that will allow you to enter into the Kingdom of your God." (6-24-76)

The Illuminati . . .
    Our Lady - "There is a group in the United States and the world, a group that started many years ago, calling itself the Illuminati, coming from the word 'light bearer'. Naturally, My children, this light that they bear stands for Lucifer, and as such they have gone through the world secretly known as Luciferians.  They have brought into your country, the United States, and your neighbor Canada, a group of witchcraft practices.  Well have they laid their plan to destroy your children with drugs, using your school systems, your medias of communication, your newspapers, your televisions, your radios: every means of communication has been infiltrated by the member and sub-members of the Illuminati, a conglomeration of individuals and powers and principalities throughout the world, and banking systems.  As you well know, My children, money has always been the root of all evil, and many have sold their souls to get to the head.

You are worshiping idols . . .
    Jesus - "My children, you must change your values back to the plan of your God. As a nation, as a country, as in many countries throughout the world, you have become paganized and immoral.  My children, it is the gauge for the fall of mankind: immorality and paganism.  No nation shall stand without its God, the God in Heaven.
    "Man is creating many new god, god to feed his human nature; and it a basic carnal nature. Idolaters abound. When you worship in abundance, things, My children, you are worshiping idols! If you spend your time gathering things, money, power, you are worshiping idols. Remove yourself from these worldly pursuits.
     "It is a narrow road to the kingdom of your God, Heaven.  Many are called but few are chosen.  The road with satan is wide.  Many walk it and can never leave, because there are too few prayers said for them and by them.
    "Nothing is impossible to your God.  Man shall never reach the highest pinnacle of Heaven in knowledge." (3-18-78)

Many will sell their souls to get to the head . . .
    Our Lady - "The road to Heaven, My children, is a narrow one; too few stay upon it.  For they are often carried away with the cares of the world, and the pleasures of the materialistic pursuits, and their gathering of money and prestige and power.  For what?  For the few short years allotted to each human upon earth.  I ask you to ask yourself: is it worth it to lose your soul?  Many will sell their souls to get to the head." (11-20-79)

Gather your Graces . . .
    Jesus - "You cannot accept two masters. One you will love, and the other you will learn to hate. And remember, My children, where your treasures are, your heart will always lie. And better that you gather your treasures in a place where there is neither rusting, nor attacks by moths, and robbers cannot take them from you. Store your treasures in Heaven, My children. Gather your graces. You must ransom your soul and the souls of your children, your households. Do not wait expecting to be repatriated at the last moment, My children. Many are coming across the veil unprepared, and, sadly, they cannot be accepted into the Kingdom." (8-5-77)

Store canned goods, water and blankets . . .
    Our Lady - "My children, I caution you now, and I wish that you remember these instructions from several years ago in earth's time that I gave to you, to keep in your homes a good supply of canned good.  They have shelf value, My children, they will not spoil. But better that you keep them and they spoil than to have come upon you the great Chastisement.  It will be a ball of fire which will ignite many of the chemicals that are being stored up for the destruction of the nations.
    "My children, not only with the canned foods will you store just food, but you must also make known to your families and your friends that they had best keep blankets and water in tight containers; for there will be on the onset of the Chastisement, there will be nothing that you can buy due to contamination." (7-1-85)

See the Bayside Prophecies:
     September 7, 1985 message -- World monetary crash: "One massive depression" (click here)

Links...

Heaven’s Personal Protection Packet . . .
Our Lady tells us to be protected from all evil, we must wear the following sacramentals around our necks: a rosary, a crucifix, the St. Benedict medal, Our Lady of the Roses medal, the Miraculous Medal, and the scapular. We have all of these sacramentals in a packet we call "Heaven's Personal Protection Packet." This packet is available for a donation of $5.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. Send $8.00 to TLD Ministries, P.O. Box 40, Lowell, MI 49331. Item # P5  (Order Form)

    Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers promises to help protect our children. On September 13, 1977, She said, "He has an army of ogres wandering now throughout your country and all of the countries of the world. They are in possession of great power; so wear your sacramentals, and protect your children and your households. Learn the use every day of holy water throughout your household. Insist even with obstructions, insist that your children always wear a sacramental. One day they will understand that they will repel the demons."
    On February 1, 1974, Our Lady said, "My children, know the value of these sacramentals. Guard your children well. You must awaken to the knowledge that you will not be protected without the sacramentals. Guard your children's souls. They must be surrounded with an aura of purity. Remove them if necessary from the sources of contamination, be it your schools or even false pastors."
    This Heaven’s Personal Protection Packet is available for a donation of $5.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. Send $8.00 to TLD Ministries, P.O. Box 40, Lowell, MI 49331. You may use your MasterCard, VISA, or American Express and call 1-616-698-6448.  Item # P5 (Order Form)

The Virgin Mary’s Bayside Prophesies book . . . 
The six volumes have all of Our Lady’s Bayside messages from 1970 through 1994. Some of these have never been published before.  This is a type of a survival book.  It tells what is coming and how to prepare for it spiritually and materially. It is a must book for the days ahead.  This is a great way to spread Our Lady’s messages to our family, friends and relatives. Item #001 Cost $6.95  (Order Form)

A great obligation to go forward... "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for it is by merit and the prayers that have risen to Heaven for your salvation.  For those who have received the grace to hear the Message from Heaven, you have a great obligation to go forward and bring this Message to your brothers and sisters.  Do not expect a rest upon your earth, for you will have eternal rest very soon." - Jesus, June 12, 1976