|
|
Article: Ominous outlook: America's fiscal future--with unprecedented liabilities and unfunded commitments--is grim indeed.
- Article from:
- State Legislatures
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The outlook for America's fiscal future is grim, says U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. And there are three big reasons: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The federal government has made grand promises without solid plans for how it can keep solvent as baby boomers reach retirement age, and that means big trouble for states.
"Is this only a federal problem? The answer is 'no,' Walker said at NCSL' s Spring Forum in April. "Bad news flows downhill, to state and local governments, and eventually, to American families."
States might be the first to feel the sting. Marti Harkness, criminal justice director with the ...