If you’re concerned about our nation’s growing fiscal crisis — and
regardless of political persuasion, you should be — then Senator Tom
Coburn’s new book, The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America,
should be the next title you pick up. Coburn identifies the root of the
current problem, exposes the devastating effects of staying the course
and provides detailed solutions for getting the nation back on track.
Pulling no punches, the senator goes after both Republicans and
Democrats who are content with serving their own self-interests while
ignoring the greater economic situation.
Senator Coburn has long been a deficit hawk intent on exposing waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government. I was first introduced to his work last year, when he published a report entitled “The National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope.” The report came at a time when President Obama’s proposed budget would have increased NSF funding by $1 billion. The senator’s analysis revealed, among other frivolous expenditures, million-dollar grants to the Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study how rumors get started and $559,681 to the College of Charleston to observe how long a shrimp can run on a treadmill. Coburn goes a step further in his latest writing to expose the reasons and motivations behind government waste.
The Debt Bomb opens with a fictitious future scenario, where multiple private and global firms begin dumping their U.S. debt holdings after the federal government fails to pass legislation to get the nation’s spending under control. Overnight, the dollar takes a nosedive, and the price of oil subsequently spikes. Civil unrest takes the country by storm, and people withdrawal their money from banks. The G-20 convenes and issues the U.S. an ultimatum: raise the retirement age for entitlement programs to 72, means-test benefits and double tax rates for the privilege of borrowing money. The president agrees to the terms via executive order, but Congress passes a resolution in disapproval. The nation is in chaos.
Senator Coburn has long been a deficit hawk intent on exposing waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government. I was first introduced to his work last year, when he published a report entitled “The National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope.” The report came at a time when President Obama’s proposed budget would have increased NSF funding by $1 billion. The senator’s analysis revealed, among other frivolous expenditures, million-dollar grants to the Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study how rumors get started and $559,681 to the College of Charleston to observe how long a shrimp can run on a treadmill. Coburn goes a step further in his latest writing to expose the reasons and motivations behind government waste.
The Debt Bomb opens with a fictitious future scenario, where multiple private and global firms begin dumping their U.S. debt holdings after the federal government fails to pass legislation to get the nation’s spending under control. Overnight, the dollar takes a nosedive, and the price of oil subsequently spikes. Civil unrest takes the country by storm, and people withdrawal their money from banks. The G-20 convenes and issues the U.S. an ultimatum: raise the retirement age for entitlement programs to 72, means-test benefits and double tax rates for the privilege of borrowing money. The president agrees to the terms via executive order, but Congress passes a resolution in disapproval. The nation is in chaos.
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