“I think that if we don’t get these politicians to come together we face the most predictable economic crisis in history,” Bowles said during this morning’s interview in Sun Valley, Idaho. “I think it’s absolutely clear that the fiscal path we are on is not sustainable, and for me, the best analogy is these deficits are like a cancer, and over time they will destroy the country from within.”
By Amy Bingham
@Amy_Bingham
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Jul 12, 2012 11:36am
Erskine Bowles: ‘We Are Going Over the Fiscal Cliff’
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gty erskine bowles ll 120712 wblog Erskine Bowles: We Are Going Over the Fiscal Cliff
Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Three of the country’s most prominent minds on U.S. budgetary problems issued a stark warning to lawmakers today as Congress approaches what many have called a “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts that are set to take effect Jan. 1.
Erskine Bowles, who served as President Clinton’s chief of staff, former Sen. Alan Simpson and billionaire investor Warren Buffet all expressed pessimism as to whether Congress and President Obama could reach a compromise to reduce the debt and avoid another fiscal crisis, during an interview with CNBC Thursday morning.
While both Republicans and Democrats have said they do not want to let all the tax cuts expire and plan to stave off the bulk of the spending cuts, Bowles said partisan politics would likely thwart any deal to avoid the looming taxmageddon.
“I think if I had to tell you the probability, I’d say the chances are we are going over the fiscal cliff,” Bowles said. “I hate to say it, but I think that’s probably right.”
Bowles, whom Obama appointed, along with Simpson, to create a bipartisan debt-reduction plan, said today that because debt reduction was “politically painful” and “really tough,” it was not likely Congress and the president would make the tough choices to reform entitlements, cut spending and simplify the tax code, as the Bowles-Simpson plan suggests.
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