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A gift for prophecy: Romney running mate predicted U.S. bankruptcy four years ago
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
August 13th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
August 13th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Picked by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as his Vice
President, Rep. Paul Ryan made a startling prediction in 2008 that has
largely come true. Ryan told CNSNews.com in August 2008 that the U.S.
was heading toward bankruptcy. Ryan said that the fiscal path the U.S.
was then following would be "mind-boggling." Under Obama's health-care
plan, the problem will only grow far worse, he warned.
"Yes. We know that for a fact," Ryan said. "All the actuaries, all the objective score-keepers of the federal government are predicting this. So, this much we know. What we know is our government is growing at an unsustainable pace and it will overwhelm our economy's ability to pay the bills."
Since Ryan made that prediction on August 4, 2008, the debt of the federal government has grown by $6.35 trillion, rising 66 percent, from $9,565,042,361,845.53 then to $15,915,814,457,919.46 now.
Ryan pointed out that the U.S. government already faced $53 trillion in unfunded liability to pay the promises it had made through entitlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The U.S. government continues to sidestep these problems, Ryan said, and as a result the unfunded liabilities would increase by $3 trillion. Ryan explained that in order to accomplish this, massive tax increases on future generations of Americans would be required.
Ryan said he had asked the Congressional Budget Office to calculate what the tax rates would need to be on Americans of his children's' generation to pay for the entitlement promises the government had already made.
"Well, what they told me was really startling," Ryan said. "They said that the current low rate, the 10 percent bracket for low-income Americans, would have to go up to 25 percent. The middle-income tax rates for middle-income Americans would have to go up to 66 percent. And the top rate, which is what small businesses pay, would have to go up to 88 percent.
"Those would be the tax rates you would have to if you wanted to tax your way out of this problem. And if you did that, all experts conclude you would literally crash the American economy."
Ryan warns that if the U.S. pursues this current financial path, America would be bankrupted and the children and grandchildren of his generation would be forced into a lower standard of living than Americans have enjoyed in the past.
"What is happening is that these three entitlement programs--Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security-are going to basically to crowd out the rest of the federal budget," Ryan said. "In about 30 years, they consume 100 percent of the budget. Right now, entitlements are about 60 percent of the federal budget. In about 20 to 30 years, the estimates are that they crowd out 100 percent of the federal budget.
"And we all know that we are going to have an army, we are going to have a navy, we are going to do these other things that the federal government does," said Ryan. "So, that piles on top of it.
© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.