Video: Fiscal Wake Up Tour

Conn Carroll / September 18, 2009

Sometime next month the Senate will be forced to raise the federal debt limit beyond a record $12.1 trillion. While the current recession has exacerbated the problem, our rising national deficits are actually a structural problem a long time in the making. In the coming decades, the cost of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits will leap from 8.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 18.6% of GDP—an increase of 10.2% of GDP. To educate Americans about our nation’s large and growing fiscal imbalance The Heritage Foundation has, since 2005, teamed up with the The Concord Coalition, The Brookings Institution, and former U. S. Comptroller General David Walker to encourage Americans to demand action through a Fiscal Wake Up Tour.

Today The Concord Coalition released four video briefings from top national experts on the fiscal challenges facing the country, including the one below from Heritage Vice President for Domestic and Economic Policy Studies Stuart Butler:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzo-CPolHsw[/youtube] (more…)