Our nation's elected leaders need to "begin planning now" to control the federal budget deficit

From Messengernews.net

Our nation's elected leaders need to "begin planning now" to control the federal budget deficit, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told members of the House Budget Committee Wednesday. After Bernanke issued his warning, members of Congress went back to "planning now" - to increase, not reduce, the deficit.

During the administration of former President George W. Bush, the nation's debt was allowed by the White House and Congress to expand dramatically.

But worse - much, much worse - is to come.

The dollar amount of our national debt - $11.4 trillion as of Wednesday - is not as significant as the ratio of debt to gross domestic production, which is the total amount of goods and services produced by our economy each year. The higher the debt in relation to the GDP, the worse off our economy will be in the future.

Bernanke told lawmakers that the debt stood at about 40 percent of GDP last year. By 2011 - in just two years - it is expected to hit 70 percent. Another analysis, by the Congressional Budget Office, is that the debt will be 82 percent of GDP by 2019.