Customer Reviews

Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility

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Let me begin by disclosing that I am familiar with the core point of Comeback America, namely that the government must get its fiscal house in order or this country is headed for a big fall, and heartily agree with it. Thus, I attended one of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour sessions (Baltimore, 10/29/07), heard David Walker talk on other occasions, and have watched I.O.U.S.A. at least four times.

Probably most people agree with the point intellectually, but prefer not to think about it. After all, the enjoyment of government deficits is in the here and now, while the day of reckoning is perceived to be years in the future. Sounds like someone else's problem.

As Walker points out, however, the victims of continuing fiscal irresponsibility could include innocent souls who are near and dear. Thus, to rephrase an old Washington saying, "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that baby on your knee." Consuming now and leaving the bill for future generations is not simply irresponsible; it is immoral. Moreover, the roar of the waterfall up ahead is getting steadily louder as the ship of state glides downstream.

The deficit problem has two dimensions, as this book clearly explains. The current deficits and debt are bad enough, marking steady deterioration in the government's fiscal position over the past decade and exacerbated by the current recession. The long-term fiscal gap, fed by a steady increase in "entitlement" outlays (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid), is worse. As of 9/30/09, the government (and by extension this country) was in a fiscal hole of some $63 trillion, a total of liabilities and unfunded promises so vast that it is hard to comprehend, which was "rising every second of every day."

Do not doubt these numbers, by the way. Walker is a CPA by training, formerly served as the U.S. Comptroller General (among other positions), and knows whereof he speaks.

This is hardly the first book to warn that the United States is on the road to financial disaster. See, e.g., "Financial Reckoning Day," Bonner & Wiggin, 2003, or "The Coming Generational Storm," Kotlikoff & Burns, 2004.
But the author's conviction that the American people must and can take action to avert the disaster is refreshing, and he offers some specific ideas for doing just that. Among them is appointing a Fiscal Future Commission, which would be empowered to propose sweeping changes in spending, entitlements and taxes that Congress would be committed to accept on an up or down vote.

The narrative of how the fiscal problem developed is a little hard on Bush 43, in my opinion, and a Republican-controlled Congress contributed to fiscal gains during the Clinton years. The commentary on President Obama's fiscal track record thus far seems optimistic, although Walker does note a possible gap between words and actions. Forget all that, however, because both parties contributed to the problem and playing the blame game can solve nothing.

Specific ideas are offered for revamping Social Security, overhauling the healthcare system (instituting new programs without fixing Medicare and Medicaid is no answer), raising taxes but also making them simpler and fairer, reducing the trade deficit, getting control of the Pentagon, and transforming government. Most people will differ with some of the ideas, certainly I do, but remember that they are suggestions rather than "must do's." If the American people start thinking seriously about what kind of government they want and are willing to pay for, we should all be able to live with the results.

Maybe this sounds a bit boring. "When you picked up this book," Walker observes in the epilogue, "you knew you weren't buying a light read for the beach - or a typical Washington tell-all full of espionage, sex scandals, war planning, and gladiators jousting in the political arena."

But I recommend that people read and reflect on Comeback America, and then act on the author's invitation to "put this book down, fellow citizens" and "let's get to work."

My name is Robert L Rodriguez, CEO of First Pacific Advisors. I am a three time winner of Morningstar's Mutual Fund Manager of the Year Award for both domestic equities and bonds and my equity fund, FPA Capital Fund, was the number one diversified equity fund for the past 25 years ended September 30, 2009. I have used and referred to Mr. Walker's work for years and consider him one of the few that I would trust who has come out of Washington. His book is an easy read with a very straightforward analysis of the critical fiscal problems facing this country. He proposes several realistic recommendations to start addressing these problems. The greatest service he does is showing why light hearted, feel good sounding "solutions" will not and cannot do the job. Neither the Republican or the Democratic parties have been serious about discussing these challenges nor have they been willing to take real concrete actions toward solving these critical issues. If "we the people" do not start taking action and requiring our representatives to tackle these existing issues now, we will face a far more serious fiscal and federal crisis than the one we have just gone through in the not too distant future. As one of the few professionals who has been nationally recognized for having warned about the oncoming credit crisis, I believe "Comeback America" provides a workable template of resolution that can be begun today. Please share this important book with friends, family and your elected representatives. Your children and your children's children will thank you for it. For the record, I have no economic interest in this volume other than I believe David M. Walker's message needs to be heard more broadly. Thank you for reading my thoughts.

David Walker, U.S. Controller General from 1998-2008, believes that absent significant reforms to current government programs and policies, federal taxes could double by 2030. His goals for the book are to explain our fiscal problems in ways that everyone understands, draw a road map for getting out of the mess, and provide tools with which to evaluate programs. "Comeback America" is well-written, non-partisan, and important reading.

Most Americans probably believe that our national debt is somewhere around $12 trillion. However, that excludes other programs that the U.S. has insufficiently funded - most notably Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid - thus, a true total of $56 trillion in federal government obligations - Walker's focus. (State and local governments have another unfunded $0.5+ trillion in unfunded liabilities for retiree benefits, per the U.S. Government Aaccounting Office, 11/09.)

Mandatory programs (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) took up over 60% of the $3 trillion 2008 federal budget, and we're currently running a $1.4 trillion deficit. This deficit almost doubled under Bush '43, and could double again in the next 8-10 years. By 2040, Walker believes federal tax revenues will only cover interest on the debt, and Medicare + Medicaid - if nothing changes.

Walker recommends starting the cure with Social Security. Its trust funds will run dry in 2037, and then require cutting benefit levels to 24% of current. He proposes to trim benefits for the middle and upper-income recipients (35% of retirees rely on Social Security for over 90% of their income), trim COLA increases, raise retirement ages, increase the cap on taxable Social Security wages, and require supplemental savings accounts totaling about 2-3% of payroll incomes.

As for health care, Walker proposes budget limits, malpractice reform, encouraging healthier lifestyles, emphasis on capitation payments, evidence-based practice and reimbursement, banning prescription-drug advertising, limiting what is covered, negotiating drug prices paid for Medicare, and charging more for higher-income people for Medicare Part A.

Revenue would increase by ending exclusions for health care, retirement plans, state/local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable deductions. Additional revenue would be raised through a consumption tax that exempted food, clothing, and shelter - Walker points out that our current income tax allows 40% to nothing, the top 20% pay 69% of the total, and two-thirds pay more in payroll taxes (Social Security + Medicare) than income tax, and does not believe that is equitable.

Defense consumes about 20% of the federal budget, and Walker believes much is wasted. For example - more than 20 command units must approve activation of as few as 20 National Guard or Reserve members.

Finally, Walker recognizes that these huge debts are the result of a dysfunctional democracy, and suggests a new Constitutional Convention and term limits as possible cures.

Bottom Line: "Comeback America does a good job of communicating the hidden, almost secret size of the federal debt. The author, however, errs recommending improvement efforts start with Social Security - unfunded Medicare and its associated prescription drug benefits are larger than unfunded Social Security obligations. Walker's expense reduction recommendations are also rather vague, though probably to avoid readers becoming sidetracked by debates over individual proposals. Nonetheless, "Comeback America" should be read by everyone. Clearly we have a lot of work ahead of us.

If you've seen David Walker anywhere, you'll remember him as a straight talkin', former Comptroller General of the United States who is really REALLY worried about the financial deficits of the US. He's been on 60 Minutes, written several books, has a movie (IOUSA). All of which seek to drive home the point that the US is in a huge financial hole ($56 trillion as of 2008) and we need to get serious. His solution: raise taxes and cut spending, with an emphasis on entitlement spending.

As an accountant and someone who follows this stuff fairly closely, I think Walker has identified a real problem. And ten years ago I would have probably agreed with a lot of his solutions. Dial back Social Security and Medicare a bit, raise taxes. Tough things to do, but that's the fix.

But, if you look at the situation more closely, you'll notice several problems with that broad-brush approach. One, the vast majority (about 80%) of the $56 trillion hole he identifies relates to healthcare costs that the federal government expects to pay over the next 75 years. So, you'd think the vast majority of his book would be devoted to addressing that problem, right? It's not; only one chapter. It's not a bad chapter; he suggests an overall budget for healthcare and a "federal reserve" to determine priorities. Unfortunately 80% of the problem he identifies gets only 10% of the book. This creates problems.

One, the "fix" for healthcare is likely to be much different than the fix for other budget problems. For example, the federal government can stop buying aircraft carriers and that will be a cost savings. However, if the government stops paying for healthcare it's likely the cost will simply be shifted to individuals or states or businesses. The feds pay about half of all healthcare costs and that's why they have a huge budget problem. But businesses, states, and families pay the other half and, because of healthcare costs, their balance sheets aren't looking that great over the next 75 years either. If, as some propose (including Walker at various points), we balance the federal budget by shifting more of the responsibility for healthcare costs to families and businesses, how are we better off?

So, it's pretty clear that we need to reduce healthcare costs, not just healthcare costs paid by government. How do we do that? (By the way, I'm sorry to digress so far from the book, but the book digresses so far from the problem, what can I do?) To his credit Walker acknowledges that the US has the most expensive healthcare in the world. I wish he would have dramatized that point the way economist Dean Baker does. He has a neat little chart that shows what would happen if the US had per capita healthcare costs at the level of any developed country. Guess what. The entire budget deficit, all $56 trillion, goes away. Presto! No cuts to Social Security, defense, no tax increases. That's how big healthcare is.

So, why can't we get a handle on reducing healthcare costs? There's no shortage of smart and well-meaning people who say they can do it. We've just been through a bruising battle in Congress trying to address the issue. My theory is that the problem starts with identifying the problem as simply $56 trillion hole. It's only a hole from a certain perspective: those who pay for healthcare. To healthcare providers, however, it's more like a $56 trillion mountain. It's not a cost, it's income. In other words, attempts to limit costs are also attempts limit income. Not surprisingly, with 17% of the economy at stake---$2 trillion per year--disagreements ensue. At this point it appears that the people with their eye on the mountain are more focused and organized than the people with their eye on the hole. So, kudos to Walker for trying to focus attention on the hole.

Unfortunately he has a real problem focusing on a solution. The major theme of the book seems to be a generalized cutting back on entitlements. The idea is practically a refrain ending every chapter. In the abstract that sounds good, but if we are talking about restraining healthcare costs--and remember that's the vast majority of that $56 trillion--then the evidence suggests that... I hope you are sitting down...we should EXPAND the entitlement for healthcare. I know this runs way way against conventional wisdom. But, remember all those countries that operate healthcare systems that would solve our budget deficit? They all have a national entitlement for healthcare. It saves them a ton of money, and by many measures they have better healthcare. Maybe they have to wait a little longer for procedures, but if it saves us trillions of dollars, I'd say it's worth a serious look. As a side benefit we wouldn't have to listen to prescription drug ads (a ban favored by Walker, by the way). So, why isn't Walker on a crusade to bring that type of system to our country?

First off, a bit of important information about the person writing the review: I'm neither a fiscal policy expert, nor a fiscal policy newcomer. I would say I'm more informed than the Average Joe, but definitely not an expert. I'll be giving my OPINIONS on a few different aspects of the book: relevance, clarity, accuracy, and objectivity. I give it four stars because I think Mr. Walker did an excellent job of both identifying a major fiscal policy issue, and giving it a thorough, rigorous analysis that should be accessible to most people with a comfortable command of reading in English. For those reasons, it's above average, so more than three stars. At the same time, there were some parts of the author's case where his reasoning wasn't as strong or as thorough as other parts. It left me with some important questions unanswered. For that reason, I don't think it quite rises to the level of five stars.

For anybody who is interested in an intelligent, earnest discussion of America's fiscal circumstances, I would recommend this book as a good contribution to a larger conversation.

RELEVANCE: This book is highly relevant. Regardless of your political views, if you're not concerned about the sustainability of the fiscal practices of the American political system, I would politely suggest you pay closer attention.

CLARITY: As I said, I'm not a fiscal policy expert. I am highly educated, and I read highly technical documents on a routine basis. So, my standards of clarity might not reconcile with yours. That being said, I found that the author did a magnificent job of capturing the most important details of the fiscal policy issues he was discussing, and putting them in very simple, easy to read language, without "dumbing" anything down.

ACCURACY: I have to be clear hear that this is my best educated guess. The author is privy to a lot more information on the subject than I am, so he most certainly knows things that I don't know. There are probably lots of other people who know more than I do who may be able to spot problems that I didn't. That being said, everything he mentioned about the history and details of American fiscal policy is factually accurate, to the best of my knowledge. Where I have some moderate quarrels with him is in some of his rhetorical characterizations of specific government policies. For example, in his discussion of problems with the Alternative Minimum Tax, after giving a spot-on analysis of some key flaws in the policy's design, he implies that those flaws make the AMT into a con-job on the American people, without presenting any evidence for why we should attribute it to dishonest motives on the part of the government rather than simply a well-intentioned, poorly-implemented policy instrument. Since he asserts early on in the book that existing problems with the US government are with its processes, procedures, and structures, not with its people, it seems a bit inconsistent to later imply that a broken policy is an intentional strategy for ripping off taxpayers.

OBJECTIVITY: I give the author nearly full marks on this one. While I disagree with him on some fundamental philosophical points, one thing he does particularly well throughout the book is strive to give a fair and independent perspective on every policy issue he discusses. He succeeds in presenting his opinion, with all of his substantial expertise, as still an opinion, without devolving into partisanship or indulging personal vendettas against people he disagrees with. That's not to say that his passions never come through, sometimes with overly blunt force. But unlike much of what passes for sound political commentary these days, he never lets his opinions completely derail his capacity for rational judgment. There are a few moments where you have to wonder "Was that last line REALLY necessary?", but the vast majority of his commentary is measured, considerate, and more concerned with getting at the truth than scoring political points.

Comeback America is one of the most riveting books that you will read on the importantant subject of the fiscal health of this country. One would be hard pressed to find anyone at any level who is more knowledgable than is former comptroller general of the United States, Dave Walker.

Our global economic issues have become so complex that even most of the top expert "watch dogs" in Washington did not see this financial tsunami coming. Thus, it is difficult to expect the average person to be able to fully grasp these matters, making it easy to become swayed by 30 second sound bites that are often based on ideology rather than facts. Comeback America takes these complex issues and presents them in an intelligent, concise way that resonates with more than just policy wonks.

I have long admired Walker's tenacity in promoting the award winning documentary IOUSA and his Fiscal Wake Up Tour and he was doing so long before the most recent crisis hit in the Fall of 2008. How differently things might have turned out if those inside the Beltway had stood up for the courage of their convictions the way Dave Walker has.

He pulls no punches in his assessment of the failures of those on both sides of the political spectrum and, importantly, proposes common sense solutions.

This book is a must read and should be required reading in all institutions of higher learning.

David Walker's "Comeback America" offers a solution to stop the United States from going its current course into insolvency.

His approach is to take government programs and departments, such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and the military, and streamline how they operate so that expenditures are kept within a limit and used more efficiently. Furthermore, he proposes a new tax policy that is more fair and perhaps bring more revenue. It sounds like the same rhetoric that politicians would say, but it isn't. He gets into details about how government should operate. It is like keeping the good stuff from the US government but adjust it so that government programs are not wasteful and fully funded. He isn't calling for a more limited government or an expanded government. He seems to believe there is still time to keep the good stuff and yet not be fiscally insolvent.

Much of what he believes and proposes are probably going to be at odds with political ideas. For instance, I don't think liberals are going to appreciate his tax proposal which includes, I think, broadening the tax base and the stark reality that comprehensive health care and low costs do not go together. Conservatives and the Tea party are not going to appreciate the idea of increase taxes. Conservatives seek for a limited government and Walker is not that kind of person. The only group might appreciate Walker's views are independents.

Walker admires Theodore Roosevelt and, I think, favors the policy of FDR. He recognizes the Constitutional idea of limited government but also believes that social programs is a good idea for society. He seems to disagree with the liberal notion of unlimited spending on social programs and taxing the rich and the conservative notion of limited government and cutting taxes.

I am mixed with this book. My impression is that there is a little bit of having cake and eating it too. In one case we should benefit from the programs that non-US socialized countries have but yet not be like those countries. Also, the Constitutional idea of limit government would have kept the expansion of government along with the expansion of wasteful spending in check, but now the expansion of government should be kept and reformed. He proposes a 'fair' tax policy but I am skeptical of what makes things 'fair'. It is like a push-pull kind of thing. I don't disagree with all his ideas; he does have good points such as those about Medicare. Despite my skepticism, some of his tax ideas are pretty good.

I could go on about this book, but I'll end it here. There seems to be hope and time for the US before going to down the current path to insolvency. Fortunately, voters seemed to have slammed the political brakes with the recent elections before going down that path so that the US re-examine where the US should do and go. I don't agree with Walker's political views, but he does provide good insight on the current fiscal crisis.

You can hardly pick up a newspaper, surf the Internet news and chat rooms, or chat with friends without the country's spend, spend, spend habit being the point of conversation. David Walker in his book Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility presents a strong case for the United States to get its fiscal house in order. I wish I could afford to send every member of the Congress a copy of Walker's book; it is that good and that important.

David Walker is an accountant by trade; a certified one. He also served as Comptroller General and head of the Government Accountability Office. This is a voice that should be heeded. Maybe Walker should run for President?

When the country's annual budget surplus (we still had a national debt by the way) became a deficit under the Bush administration, Walker began warning the government about the cost of running in red ink. The fact is that when the government runs a deficit for any given year it is passing the debt to the future to repay. None of this is new, however. The Federal Government has been running deficits for generations. What is so alarming today is the rate at which the national debt is growing annually. The current administration has managed to outspend the previous administration in one year. Mind, you, this isn't a blame game, just the facts. Comeback America is as nonpartisan as possible. Certainly, there is enough blame to go around.

In Comeback America, Walker provides intelligent plans to save Social Security, cut spending, provide major tax reform, and revamp healthcare, and more. It's all here. Every American should read it.

In the end, Walker says we (the people) need to get the government reined in on the spending issue and we need to do it now (my words). The special interests need to back off and the entitlements need to be reexamined. If we don't then our future and the future of our children will be forfeit.

The clock is ticking.

Peace to all.

This book should be made required reading for citizens and especially for those who run for office. Walker, having explained that the USA is in a financial hole to the tune of $56 trillion is still optimistic and thinks that we can correct it. He reminds us that the OMB has announced the federal deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009 to be $1.42 trillion. That means we are accumulating $2.6 million debt each minute or $3.8 billion per day. He explains that the crisis roots in the mandatory expenditure such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and points out that such expenditure has taken 60 percent of the Federal Budget for 2008 and attributes 20 percent of the budget to our discretionary defense expenditure (I hope readers will notice that Obama did not create these expenditure, so let's keep our partisanship that looks to blame the wrong man aside as we try to find genuine solutions).

Walker comes up with some fine way to control the defense budget, however, he may be bit naïve as to the possibility of that since in addition to defense department creating a huge entitlement program for retirees, the Military Industrial Complex as President Eisenhower forewarned us has become too big to mess with and won't take lightly any effort to get in the way of profits of their corporate sub contractors that use the defense department as their revolving door for good recruits the same way Goldman Sachs uses the US treasury department and vice versa.

Addressing how the crisis began, he correctly points out how the sentiment promoted by President Reagan declaring the government to be the problem took hold on public. As Walker points out Reagan began cutting taxes and borrowing money to support increased expenditure, especially in the area of defense, threatened the total government revenue from rising to meet the demands of the future. As if following the example set by their leader, the great communicator (my comment), Walker then points out how spending habits of people got out of control with easy credit with a culture of debt replacing the culture of thrift and how both corporations and individuals took on much debt as they sought to benefit from false gains of the housing bubble.

Walker, I feel sidesteps some important concerns (perhaps for diplomatic reasons): First, corruption is the major reason for any nation to go bankrupt. Second, a nation is wealthy only if the people of the nation are wealthy; if the majority of the people are poor and in debt then sooner or later that nation will go bankrupt. These are the two main reasons why almost every nation that has gone bankrupt gone that way and this is why America will go bankrupt. America is a wealthy country but the mass amount of wealth (perhaps around $75 trillion according to my calculation) is in the hands of a very few people and this is because of the structure of the government--that was fixed to some extent after the great crash of 1929--began to change again in the 1970s and then climaxed in the 1980s. This is why America became the greatest nation for a few decades prior to 1980s and then began its decline. The destruction brought in by policies that I will mention below, began to crush the infrastructure of the society beginning in the 1980s, however, since the US economy has been so solid and able to weather strong hits it has taken about 40 years to crumble the financial infrastructure significantly with its repercussions beginning to be felt around the world only now.

Addressing the crisis of runaway healthcare cost that is bankrupting Medicare and Medicaid (close to $30 trillion) he points out that the employer-based healthcare system is costing us $288 billion in tax deduction per year (or uncollected revenue that mostly goes to corporations instead of the US treasury). What he fails to mention is that if we get rid of the employer based health insurance payments not only we can save that $288 billion but if we begin to pay for healthcare insurance and for healthcare cost from after tax dollars as we pay for auto insurance and auto repairs then there will be a close check on cost of healthcare and the government will have to breakdown the monopoly that is controlling both the healthcare industry and the insurance industry to bring the cost down. Imagine the powerful people in this country such as politicians and journalists--who have the means to shout the loudest--having to pay inflationary monthly health insurance out of their pocket.

In other words true free market where demand and supply will be met by market forces is the right answer to curtailing healthcare cost. And that will stop Medicare and Medicaid from going bankrupt. As of now every employer, the government agency and most trade association etc. are paying the health insurance companies monthly mandatory payments amounting to the most regressive taxes on the people of the USA so the skyrocketing cost is hidden behind confusing layers. Also let me add that this is the most bizarre taxation since no other country in the world pays taxes to corporations to keep the de-facto socialized government-paid medical care program going. This unaccountability of cost by any person directly has become one primary reason for us going bankrupt.

The second problem that Walker does not bring to the forefront is the actions of our reckless Federal Reserve that is creating an uneven society with its policies of transferring wealth of the nation only to a handful of people at the expense of the whole population thus destroying a solid tax base for the government to collect additional revenue to pay for its future obligations. Also let's keep in mind that this is bad for capitalism since capitalism cannot survive without the middleclass which is the consumer base to buy what the capitalist produces.

Also by bringing down the rate of interest to zero (that helps disproportionately only a handful in the society) the Fed has taken away the opportunity for Social Security and the Medicare collections to be invested prudently at a reasonable compounded rate of interest (such as 6 to 8 percent per year).

if the Federal Reserve keeps the rate of interest on money at an acceptable rate over inflation (first the government has to measure the inflation properly not the faulty way it does it now) then Social Security and Medicare Funds could be invested at a rate of interest that will compound its value annually to keep up with inflation and thus it will stop Social Security trust fund from running out of funds when they are due. Also the government could forecast its obligations and increase the ceiling placed on collecting both Social Security and Medicare taxes to make it more progressive (just like the de-facto taxes paid hidden as healthcare insurance, both Social Security and Medicare taxes are regressive as of now). Since the 1970s regressive taxes have become popular since most of the population is unaware of it (or don't have the means to oppose it, since the media is owned by those who benefit from regressive taxes) while the very wealthy are benefitting from it; there is nothing more our Congress desires than a friendly pat on the back from the super wealthy.

Also the Federal Reserve policies have been instrumental in running speculative asset bubble in the financial markets. Bubbles that can go on for years or decades sooner or later end up in busts. This sort of economy only helps two major groups of people and those are the insiders of publicly-listed companies who get their shares almost for free and then sell them at the height of speculative booms while collecting more of the stock at the bottoms and the middlemen who take other peoples' money and rake billions in profits when the speculative stocks go up hundreds of percent. When these stocks crash only the investors lose their money; the middleman loses nothing. This perverted system of finance and investment has transferred more and more wealth of the nation to a handful of people (who actually take very little risk in building the nation) that there is no longer a wider tax base for the government to impose and collect taxes as it was done prior to 1980s. Also when such an enormous portion of the wealth is in the hands of a few people they have the power to buy the politicians, journalists, economists and other powerful groups in the nation and thus force the government not to collect fair and progressive taxes needed to cover the expenses of the government.

In addition, if the Fed keeps the rate of interest over the true rate of inflation then most people could stick to fixed income investment and avoid the casino called the stock market where the upside because of the Fed-created speculations, as I have mentioned above, is fixed for the benefit of two groups. Thus if given the chance to invest their savings on fixed income securities with a fair rate of interest (instead of forcing them on the stock market as it is done now) more and more middleclass could avoid depending on social security benefits for retirement since they could build a nest egg by investing their savings on fixed income securities and not allow it to be wiped by stock market scams.

Incidentally Pete Peterson whose charitable fund employs David Walker made his billions also being such an insider of publicly-listed corporations whose shares ran to stratospheric levels when the Fed ran up the biggest bubble in the history of mankind. However to his credit, Pete Peterson has used his fortunately-gotten-wealth for a good cause whereas many other similar billionaires will pass on that wealth to their off- springs--as Aristotle pointed out about 2,000 years ago--making them rascals, living off the welfare for the rich comes from inheritance, having nothing to do with their leisure time will engage in mischief perhaps such as buying media outlets (and even monopolizing it) and promote angry sensational journalism to force the citizens to take their confusion, frustration and anger on scapegoats instead of finding real solutions to problems.

So in brief Walker has been very diplomatic and has not shown us the whole picture that is required to fix this crisis. Instead he suggests a constitutional amendment to rein in the expenditure to collaborate with revenue. It is a good approach by a CPA (being a fellow CPA I understand his thinking). However the real world is more complicated than that. So I suggest we take a comprehensive approach, such as demanding a true free media (not what we have now where five or six corporations control the media) to discuss the issues that matter to people, an uncorrupt Federal Reserve that is transparent (one way to do that is to elect Ron Paul, who has been after the Fed with vengeance, for President), getting rid of the employer-based health insurance system along with eliminating other tax deductions (such as the deduction for pension plans) that Walker says will save us close to $600 billion per year (incidentally that will balance our budget).

Also on curtailing defense expenditure let's not forget that one way to counter terrorism is to eliminate poverty in the world. It is when people are dirt poor and have nothing to live for that they fall prey to religious and other social fanatics and commit terrorism. The USA being the greatest power in the world could influence the Unites Nations and other global bodies such as the World Bank (as of now are behaving like true bureaucracies with highly paid employees) to focus on eliminating corruption in the world that directly correlates with the existence of poverty. If we spend half of our defense budget on eliminating global corruption than adding to it then we could have a peaceful world where we don't have to spend $800 billion per year in defense expenditure.

We need to recover ourselves first. David Walker offers a plan where "We the People" can get our country back.

It's not going to be easy. We have to start with personal responsibility, meaning getting our own debt in line, saving money, and having a plan for our futures, including taking better care or ourselves.

As Walker says, our government is a reflection of ourselves.

Next, he's proposing these responsible citizens get involved with their government. One of his more interesting suggestions is a Constitutional Convention with amendments including spending limits and no Federal expenditures that do not aid the entire US. Additionally, the oathed officials of the US who swear to 'uphold the Constitution' should be tested on that document every year and the results made public.

Walker believes every agency should have a strategic plan with benchmarks, objectives, and the ability to measure. He supports more transparent indicators of government trends that are accessible to everyone. All common sense ideas that businesses have used to good effect for many years.

Walker has served the government for 36 years. His approach is apolitical and he's got a strong sense of values. While the book is light in many ways, the document is approachable and readable even for school children which is one aspect I very much appreciate. I recommend "Comback America" for people of all parties who are concerned with keeping our country strong.

Rebecca Kyle, June 2010