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UNSUSTAINABLE

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Review of UNSUSTAINABLE

By William D. Telfair

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired)

U. S. Army

I have read two really frightening books in my life.

The first was the fictional novel On the Beach, by Nevil Shute. For those who are not familiar with that book, it was a chilling description of the end of the human race and all other advanced forms of life on earth, due to radiation resulting from a nuclear war. Nevil Shute wrote the novel as a warning concerning the likely aftermath of a global nuclear conflict. It was presented as a probable result of nuclear proliferation. Although some of his calculations were not sound, the general tone of the book was such that it was a major force in the subsequent world call for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Even today, more than sixty years after its publication, On the Beach remains a frightening prospect of what we may face as more and more rogue nations achieve nuclear weapon capabilities.

The other really frightening book is UNSUSTAINABLE, by James A. MacDougald. Unlike On the Beach, UNSUSTAINABLE is not a work of fiction nor does it deal in probabilities; it is completely factual and it deals in certainties. Also, unlike in On the Beach, the calculations in UNSUSTAINABLE are depressingly sound.

MacDougald goes into great detail concerning the real hidden debt of our local, county, state and national governments. He does not pull any punches, and holds both major parties accountable for leading our country to the brink of ruin. His numbers are accurate, and staggering. He points out in ways no one can deny or ignore, that our nation is facing bankruptcy - much the same as Greece is facing today, unless we take immediate and drastic action to save the private sector economy.

This is not a matter of private sector versus public sector, although public sector extravagancies and hidden debts are the greatest threat to survival of the private sector. It is a matter of the collapse of the private sector economy leading immediately to the collapse of the public sector. Every year, there are fewer and fewer private sector entities paying more and more taxes to support a larger and larger public sector. Governments have no largesse with which they may save the public sector. The only money governments have is money taken from the private sector through taxes. The more ruinous the taxes, the smaller the private sector becomes, and the less money there is to provide for the public sector. This is a death spiral for both sectors into which the United States has already entered. Either we take action now to reverse the current process, or it will be too late. We will become bankrupt, like Greece, unable to meet public payrolls, pay for Social security or Medicare, or even pay the interest on our staggering debts to our citizens and to other countries.

Imagine if you can, the United States pleading bankruptcy, unable to pay even the interest on our huge debts to China and other countries; unable to borrow any more money from anyone. What would we do? Sell the U. S. Virgin Islands to Saudi Arabia? Sell Hawaii to Japan? Sell Alaska back to the Russians (as if they had any money to buy it)? Sell Texas or California back to Mexico or to any other country who could afford to buy them? That may sound far-fetched but that is what Greece is doing today, and what many of our municipalities are also doing, selling off long-term income-producing properties to pay immediate bills. That is also not theory. It is hard, cold fact.

After ten depressing chapters presenting verified and verifiably facts and inescapable conclusions, MacDougald gives hope of economic salvation for our country in the form of practical, moral, and completely defensible recommendations concerning what we must do NOW, to save our country from a greater threat than all our foreign enemies can muster. He asks that we, the citizens of the United States, demand clear answers from all incumbents and seekers of office concerning their positions on the conditions and recommendations he presents.

This is a book that should be mandatory reading for everyone holding or seeking public office at any level, and for all public employees and appointees. It should be recommended reading for every registered voter, and for everyone else who values our way of life.

Having read the book, I have one recommendation for the citizens of our country:

When anyone communicates with public office incumbents or seekers of office, he or she should ask three questions:

"Have you read James MacDougald's UNSUSTAINABLE?

Do you agree with his findings and recommendations?

What are you going to do about it?"

To paraphrase the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change - UNTIL NOVEMBER,

The courage to change the things I can - IN NOVEMBER,

And the wisdom to know what must be done to save our country - THIS NOVEMBER, AND ALL THE NOVEMBERS TO COME!

This is ridiculous. This book boils my blood...Record private sector unemployment while the public sector grows, no incentives for small businesses to hire, expiring tax cuts, new taxes. Wake up America. Average Joe is already broke, and he has no clue that his/her tax dollars are providing golden parachutes to the average civil "SERVANT". The consumer is 70% of our economy. The waste is ridiculous. Things are going to get a lot worse. Remember the Walton's, good night Grandma! Multifamily homes. The author supports his argument with fact after fact after fact. This is reality. He offers logical solutions that bring fairness into the equation and offer a sense hope. We cannot continue to support elected officials who stick their heads in the ground and are more concerned about being reelected than addressing tough austerity measures. We have more mouths eating from a shrinking pie. The government is taking a bigger and bigger slice. The citizens have a right to know the whole truth. Once all the cards are on the table. People can make informed decisions.

Everyone should read this eye-opening view of what is happening in America. Extremely well researched. It is obvious that Mr. MacDougald is passionate about "making a difference". Facinating read!

An incredibly well researched and eye opening view of the current status of the American government's spending. Unsustainable accurately reviews the history of government spending, pensions, free enterprise and entitlements and suggest solutions to get America back on track. A must read for anyone interested in the potential dangers and consequences of runaway government deficit spending and interference into Capital markets.

Americans need to hear what this book says. Armed with the facts, we can overcome anything but we need to start with the truth, which UNSUSTAINABLE gives us. This nation has drifted far from the ideals on which it was founded and it's time to find our way back before it's too late. If we don't fix the problems now, we will leave an unrecognizable America to future generations. UNSUSTAINABLE lays out the problems and offers solutions. Read this book for yourself, for your children or for your grandchildren...just read it, it will open your eyes.

James MacDougald has done a yeoman's service of providing the background, facts and figures that demonstrate why voters need to focus their attention on what's been happening in Washington and state houses all across America.

"Unsustainable" should be required reading in every high school, college and university in the country.

If nothing else, Chapter 7 (The Health Care "Reform" Debacle) illustrates what happens when government gets involved in "solving" a problem that does not exist, while Chapter 11 (Back to a Sustainable America) provides a road map for all of us to follow and work toward enacting thoughout these United States.

America is under attack. But, I'm not speaking of the Islamists and other external forces who want to see an end to our western ways and capitalist system. We're under attack from within and the means and methods of the war will surprise you...maybe even infuriate you.

Jim MacDougald has just written a terrific book for anyone who wants to fully comprehend the massive "bait and switch" the public sector has been pulling on the private sector over the past decade. While we (private sector employees and employers) worked harder and longer, paid more in taxes and saw our retirement savings funds whittled, the public sector employees (federal, state & municipal) saw increases in salaries, medical benefits, retirement program and pension plans. Is it any wonder that during the past decade the private sector lost three million jobs while the public sector increased its employees by two million? It all sounds lovely. The government created lots of steady jobs with outstanding benefits. What's to complain about? Well, the complaint is that this massive shift of jobs from the private sector to the public sector is simply not sustainable. Aptly, the name of MacDougald's immensely eye-opening book is Unsustainable.

In the book, the author provides massive detail, thanks to a team of researchers who has been collecting and analyzing this pay disparity data for a couple of years. I warn you, some of the public pay shenanigans; especially the "triple dipping" and "end of career spiking," will get your blood pressure up. Whatever you do, don't read this book after reviewing your latest retirement savings statements. At the crux of MacDougald's thesis is simple mathematics. If the public sector keeps taking more from the taxpayers and small& medium businesses that make up the majority of our economy and uses it to pay itself total compensation (salary, pension, medical, vacation, etc.) at significantly higher rates than the private sector can afford, we will eventually crater our economy under the weight of an unsustainable economic system. The public sector doesn't produce any revenues itself. It is reliant on the revenues derived from taxpayers and businesses. By adding more employees with greater pay, benefits and guaranteed pension plans, the public sector is adding unfunded liabilities to its future budgets. Because these liabilities are not required to be recorded as long-term debts on the Balance Sheets of our public entities, the massive obligations are hidden from us. Rather than tell us that a state's budget is woefully inadequate because of the growing unfunded liabilities of out-sized pension obligations, governors will trot out the school children and tell us that if we don't pony up more taxes, then Johnny and Jennifer will suffer a lack of funding for adequate education. Journalists snap the pictures, capture the video and publish the sad stories and the extortion cycle works again.

MacDougald, who is the son of an Army Sergeant, created a highly successful business in the 80's and 90's, with thousands of employees. He doesn't think he could replicate that success again in the present environment. He wrote this book because he felt compelled to share the information with as many people as possible in the hope of educating people and motivating them to take action. It's the same reason he founded The Free Enterprise Nation, for which he serves as Chairman & CEO. [...]

Read the book. See the facts about how government forces unionization. Learn how egregious the tactics are for making sure "civil servants" receive pension plans and lump sum payouts that you can't get in the private sector. See how seniority trumps performance in our public education system. Arm yourself with the data so you and your family are not fooled again by the budget crisis extortion game. It's a powerful, well-written book with lots of fresh data, but it is written in a very clear and non-technical manner. MacDougald is not an economist, (though he probably could be and his son is one) so the style and voice he employs is direct and easy to understand. It's the author's first book. I hope it's not his last.

It's a very scary world we live in...after reading UNSUSTAINABLE, I realize that I will NEVER collect Social Security even though I pay into it each and every pay period...Why am I contributing to something I will never have? It is not my responsibility or anyone else's to "fix" and pay for the mistakes made by our government. The PUBLIC sector is reaping all the benefits..while those of us in the PRIVATE sector are enabling those to do so.

Thank you Jim MacDougald for pulling together this encylopedic review of the public sector's massive finanical excesses. Ever since Ross Perot put the charts and graphs up on prime time television during his presidential campaign many years ago, I've been wondering when someone would show us what's really happening to the "harvest" of our ever-increasing tax burden. If there is anything I'd like my children to graduate high-school with, it's an understanding of how not to be hoodwinked into assuming that our government officials and public servants are being good stewards of our public financial resources.

Jim, when are you going to make this information "kid friendly" so we can get it into the schools and universities?

Keep up the great work!! Our grandchildren will be forever grateful!

This is one of the first books to outling the detail of the unfunded liability of the government, Local, State and Federal. The style is easy to understand for the non-economist, and unsettling for the non-imformed. The good news is that we can still dig our way out of this mess as detailed in the last chapter. I rate this as a must read for ALL Americans.