Fiscal Wake-Up Tour:
The world according to David Walker
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
David Walker is an accountant by trade. And not just any accountant—he’s the nation’s top accountant and auditor, the comptroller general of the United States, and head of the Government Accountability Office on a 15-year term that will run through 2013.
Politically and ideologically, he was formerly a conservative Democrat, then a moderate Republican and is now an independent. He said heading up the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour is democracy in action.
“We’re trying to make democracy work,” he said. “We’re trying to make the first three words of the Constitution come alive.”
And all with one purpose in mind: to inform America about its impending fiscal crisis. His comments are short, to the point and, he admits, a bit acerbic.
Prescription-drug coverage under Medicare, which took effect Jan. 1, has a projected cost that was advertised at $400 billion over 10 years when it passed in 2003, but has since risen to at least $720 billion.
“We simply can’t afford it,” Walker said.
The bulk of President George W. Bush’s 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax-cut program is set to expire at the end of 2010. Congress is taking steps to make the reductions permanent, which would keep tax revenue at about 18% of the economy, where it’s been for the past half-century—too low to support even current spending levels.
“We can’t afford to make all the tax cuts permanent,” Walker said.
“I think the president’s come a long way in saying we need to balance the budget within a reasonable amount of time,” he explained. “We made a down payment on a multi-trillion-dollar imbalance. We just need to figure out where do we go from there. The problem is he doesn’t have a lot of political capital.”
Walker said the tour is important because the people need to see a face behind the message. Walker’s face is certainly being seen, particularly on several national news shows, including CBS’ “60 Minutes” and Fox News Channel’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”
Charleston is the 19th stop on the tour, which makes roughly two stops per month and will run through 2008.
“We’re trying to leverage technology, we’re trying to leverage the media and we’re trying to leverage professional business, labor and other groups.”
Including Hollywood. Walker said there are two documentaries being made of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour.
“Hey, maybe we’ll end up winning an Oscar,” he laughed. “If Al Gore can get one for touting the environment, surely we can get one talking about the budget.”
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