David Walker is not a politician. He was hired by Bill Clinton to head the GAO. His official title was: Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO. He was the nation's chief accountant. He was not an elected official and was hired for 15 years regardless of which president or political party was in office.

Walker has been preaching of impending fiscal doom for some time now. It is his premise that there is not enough money to pay future retirees their full Social Security and Medicare benefits and unless something is done immediately, our country may not survive.

A commenter to my last diary: "Social Security and Medicare Crisis" asked the following question:

"TKH, as a Democrat, why do you believe the Walkers of the world, but not the Kuttners?"

By this he meant, that while Walker talks about doom and gloom for Social Security and all other entitlement programs, there are those who believe the problems can be easily fixed.

Below the fold is my response

Below the fold are excerpts from various reports I read today trying to understand why the future of Social Security and Medicare is such a problem and what the possible solutions might be.

Each party has an intrinsic interest in keeping their bases happy. The Republicans promise more Tax cuts and the Democratic party promises universal health care for all.

While both promises are great for getting politicians elected, neither is possibile without seriously harming our nation's future. Read on to find out why.

America is being sold piece by piece. Much of our Federal and State infrastructure is now owned by foreign governments and multi-national corporations so that they can turn around and make a profit off of Americans using them. America has become little more than a flea market for the rest of the world, who are awash with American dollars because of the "unregulated" free-trade policies of the Republican party.  

Below the fold is an Article written by Thom Hartmann in 2006. I was going to write a diary myself on this subject, but found this article that says it better than I ever could. I have included it in it's entirety. I take no credit for anything Mr. Hartmann wrote, but I DO completely agree with this well written article and his sentiments.

We are beginning to see tip of an economic iceberg rearing its ugly head. It has existed for years, but every politician in the past 50 years has ignored it, because there was always tomorrow and someone else down the road who would have to fix it. Unfortunately, there is no tomorrow and the next president will be responsible for "beginning" the process of fixing the problem, if it can be fixed. If not, we are all in deep shit.

I'm sitting here with my wife and in-laws. None are political people. I talked them into listening to both the McCain and Obama speeches at the Latino convention knowing that Barack would shine and make it an easy choice in November. They are the types who get most of the information they know about the candidates from sound bites and the occasional speech. I was wrong. If anything, it pushed them away from Barack and here's why.

There is an 800 pound gorilla in our economic room and everyone acts like he doesn't exist. Everyone is worried about a recession, but that is just a bump in the road compared to the real problem with our economy. There is a much worse problem in our near future. Bush’s "shop till you drop" policy and the republicans lackadaisical attitude about borrowing money from our grandkids and foreign countries has exacerbated a problem that has been festering since the 1950's. Our country is now in grave peril. Plainly stated: we as a nation, are going bankrupt. We are spiraling downward to become a 3rd world country within the next 40 years and our politicians are to scared to talk about it.

I've been trying to understand why gas prices are so high. If you read the papers or listen to cable news, you've probably come to the conclusion that those nasty Russians, Saudis, Mexicans, and Venezuelans and other oil producing countries just aren't producing enough oil to keep up with the ever increasing demands of China, India and other rapidly growing economies. While those are valid points and are part of the problem, they are not the major reason for the astronomical price increases in oil since 2003. Below the fold, I will explain the real reason.

I just read a diary stating that the attack on Barack is racism. This diary is based upon a couple of responses I made.

I do not believe that Barack is being singled out for abuse because he is black. America has shown that his skin color doesn't really matter to the majority of voters. It's the hope of what he offers that MOST people like and that has nothing to do with race. YES, there are those who only see a black man running for office and will vote against him for that reason only, but they are clearly not the majority.

Below the fold, in bold quotes, is an email I received this morning which had been forwarded through about 50 people. No telling how long it's been out there in the ether and how many people have received it. I am sure at least some of you have also.

It got me thinking about how many of these attack emails exist and how many people are shallow enough to actually change their vote simply because of them.

The following may have been covered ad-nauseam, but I can't help but add my two cents worth:

The NY Times published an op-ed by NY's illustrious Ex-Congress person Geraldine A. Ferraro entitled, "Got a Problem? Ask the Super ". In it, she attempts to explain how she, and the other superdelegates, know more, and are more qualified, than the rest of us average peons who voted in the Primaries/Caucuses, to determine who our parties candidate should be.  

Take a short break from all this election crap. In my never ending search for truth and beauty, I present the following. I received the story below and the pictures in an email from a friend this morning. ENJOY

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This is something I have never seen before, or ever even heard of. This lady lives in a Hummingbird fly zone. As they migrated, about 20 of them were in her yard. She took the little red dish, filled it with sugar water and this is the result.

The Woman is Abigail Alfano of Pine, Louisiana - she has been studying them daily and one morning put the cup from the feeder, with water in it, in her hand; as they had gotten used to her standing by the feeder they came over to her hand. She says in touching they are as light as a feather. Abigail also said, 'if she had known her husband was taking
pictures she would have put on makeup.'

I received this in an email this morning. Read below before going below the fold:

This bridge is on the  Old Donner Pass Highway. It has a spectacular view of Donner Lake and Donner Pass on Route 80.

A bear was walking across  Rainbow  Bridge (Old Hwy 40 at Donner Summit, Truckee) on Saturday when two cars also crossing the bridge scared the bear into jumping over the edge of the bridge. Somehow the bear caught the ledge and was able to pull itself to safety. Authorities decided that nothing could be done to help Saturday night so they returned Sunday morning to find the bear sound asleep on the ledge.

After securing a net under the bridge the bear was tranquilized, fell into the net, lowered, then woke up and walked out of the net.  There is a moral to this story you know; this old bear made a wrong move and found he was hanging by his nails. Somehow he was able to pull himself up onto the ledge where he saw he was in a very bad, impossible situation and what did he do? Yep, he took a nap and sure enough the situation took care of itself while he was asleep.

The moral is that when confronted with a bad situation sometimes the best solution is to take a nap.

Sure wish I could convince my boss of that!

Today, that is an oxymoron. We all know that, even politicians who mean well, sometimes make promises they can't keep. It is a sad fact of life that, to get elected, they make promises that they just can't deliver on once elected, but we, as Americans expect them to make promises. Bigger, better, or more. We expect our politicians to make our lives better than it was the last election cycle (this time, that won't be hard). But have they been misleading us just to get elected? Whose fault is it that they are forced to make promises that in reality we know can't be forefilled? Why can't politicians just be honest with us?

The following is a fictitious news conference held with both a Democratic and Republican candidate present. Although unreal, it has more honesty in it than I've heard from any candidate so far.

Today the New York Times reported that the incident that happened between the speed boats of the Iranian navy and U.S. navy war ships may not have been the provocative incident it seemed to be.

Believe it or not, Bill Kristol and others have stated that George Bush's tenure in office will be seen as a success by Historians. I adamantly disagree, as I am sure most of you on this site do.

This is the second printing of an open letter to Mr. Bush explaining just a few of the reasons why I feel as stongly as I do. Feel free to add addtional reasons why this man is, and has been, a total screw up.

Corporations and Politicians are linked at the hip. Most politicians are political whores who have sold their souls, and our well being, to stay in office, retain the power the office provides, or just use the post as a jumping off point to become a lobbyist for their own personal gain.

I did not write most of the following diary. It was written by "Alan in Hawaii". It is a comment to an editorial in todays NY Times. I feel that it is so relevent and powerful that I had to create a diary so that you can enjoy it too.

I wish to appoligize to "Alan in Hawaii" for plagiarizing his work but hope that, if he reads this, he understands that his eloquent words say what a growing number of Americans feel.

Sometimes you can't chose the diary you write, it choses you...

The following diary is a RELIGIOUS DIARY. It contains no politics. Please do not tell me that this is not the place for it...I know that already. I have never posted anything here except political diaries and probably never will again.  

BUT sometimes something in you requires an outlet for expression. Sorta like having to Pee with no bathroom around...lol This is my home and the only place I blog. I have to get this out of my system...SO

Please understand and forgive this one time breach of protocol.  

PS: If you are angry that this is not a political diary, just throw    
      in "George Bush Sux" somewhere in each paragraph...that
      should help.