Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel Thursday that shrinking the deficit “should be a top priority,” saying that spending projections over the next decade are “clearly unsustainable.”
Stressing that the budgetary threat did not emerge from the past three years alone of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits — with a fourth expected for 2012 — meant to ease the recession and aid the recovery, Bernanke warned the debt could explode over the next 20 to 30 years to levels that could paralyze the economy. The government faces an aging population, fast-rising health care costs, and a failure to close the gap between taxes and spending.
Stressing that the budgetary threat did not emerge from the past three years alone of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits — with a fourth expected for 2012 — meant to ease the recession and aid the recovery, Bernanke warned the debt could explode over the next 20 to 30 years to levels that could paralyze the economy. The government faces an aging population, fast-rising health care costs, and a failure to close the gap between taxes and spending.
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