Is anyone else concerned US political leadership is spending us into the same financial crisis facing Greece?

The possibility of sovereign debt default used to be the domain of poor Eastern European, African and Latin American countries, seemingly in constant need of bailout from the IMF and developed countries. Now we are seeing the Greek financial crisis exploding before our eyes. Their problems stem in large measure from overly generous government sponsored entitlement programs, such as pension plans which provide early retirement (50 years old for women and 55 years old for men) for a myriad of “hazardous” job classifications including, insert laugh track here, radio and television personalities and musicians. Their crushing pension liabilities, when added to current deficit spending, approximate 875% of GDP[1]. Ludicrous numbers to be sure, but before we become too smug this could not happen here, consider estimates for US federal government debt, after incorporating Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other similar entitlement obligations, is $79 trillion, or about 500 percent of GDP1. Additionally, federal government employee benefits are not reasonable or sustainable. I personally know of one extended family member, a hard working, diligent public sector employee, who retired at age 52 with full medical coverage and 80% of his average last three years salary guaranteed for life. This does not even begin to consider the impact of significantly under funded state police, fire, teachers and public employee pension funds. If we don’t elect political leaders with the courage to tackle these overly generous entitlement programs it won’t be long before the US will be suffocating under federal and state debt burdens. The Obama administration’s first year deficit, estimated to be $1.7 trillion, the largest in U.S. history, and his sponsorship of a massive health care spending bill are not an encouraging omens.

[1] J. Gokhale, an economist at the Cato Institute