Update On The Looming Financial Crisis.

(This is a short, happy post that is not well done.) The Republicans have failed to live up to their promise of tackling our "unsustainable" budget. It is politically impossible to make meaningful cuts without promoting massive social unrest ,look at the protest in Wisconsin, and threatening the social cohesion of our nation--the words "social unrest" come from a Congressional Budget Office's report and recently alluded to by our Treasury Secretary in his statement below. This is from the HotAir blog(they both link to the real news story),

The House rejected a measure cutting an additional $22 billion from the Republican spending bill, as conservatives ran into a wall of opposition from the GOP establishment over the depth of reductions to federal funding.

The amendment backed by the conservative Republican Study Committee failed, 147-281, but not before putting the GOP spending divide under a spotlight on the House floor. Authored by RSC chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the proposal would have dramatically reshaped an appropriations bill that already slashes federal spending by $61 billion over the next seven months…

Ace has a nice post and video that goes well with the disappointment that those that put their faith in the Republican party's promises to make some serious reforms. The Republicans have failed to make even their small 100 billion cut that even if enacted would have been ineffectual in solving the nation's looming budget crises and instead cut 60 billion from projected spending increases, not actual spending cuts. They have been dishonest in selling their proposed budget cuts and could not even vote to pass them. As Ace states "The GOP is dead to me". And even these modest cuts will likely be reduce after the Senate gets through with it. The point that I am trying to make is that no political party is willingly or able to make the necessary budget cuts and reforms to entitlement programs that are necessary to avoid the looming budget crisis. The status quo of our Nation's financial situation is simply not sustainable and there is no party that is doing anything about this fact. Who said that things are unsustainable?

The Treasury Secretary recently stated before a Senate hearing that the proposed budget is unsustainable because the interest on the debt will eventually rise to 844 billion dollars. This is the reason Admiral Mike Mullen recently stated that national debt is the biggest threat to our national security, a warning repeated by Hilliary Clinton. Tim Geithner also states that the proposed budget does not make the necessary cuts because it is politically impossible.

"'Forty cents of every dollar we spend we borrow, and in 20 years from now, all the money we have in revenue is going to go to pay the debt -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Nothing left for the national defense, homeland security, etcetera,' said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who appeared with Durbin. 'We are spending money that we do not have. Even the Social Security payments, we do not have. We're borrowing that from the Treasury,' said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who was on CNN with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y."

The point of this short post is to show that there is a very real financial crisis that is knocking on the door. The sources that state this are not simply talk show host opinion, but rather this is coming from our elected officials, Treasury Secretary, the leader of our military, and the Congressional Budge Office. Seismic , titanic, and very painful cuts need to be made in entitlement programs that are simply politically impossible to make without affecting the "social cohesion" of the Nation and won't be made until the crisis is already upon us. Either way, if the necessary reforms are made or things continue as they are, a very serious financial crisis is headed our way. With this level of debt, America and the world has lost its ability to absorb shocks to the system such as natural disasters, economic shocks, wars, or a possible negative turn of events in the Middle East. With the ability to absorb the financial cost of such shocks, they will have a more pronounced effect on America and the world. Are you mentally and financially prepared for this? Or is your head still in the sand or you have your hopes misplaced with the Republicans and the Tea Party?