Rebate? Maybe You Owe the Government $150,000

Jan. 29, 2008— -- One government agent believes Congress should slip a little extra something when and if they mail out those much-debated rebate checks: a $150,000 bill, payment due immediately.

"Perhaps when you send out the check, if you also sent out the $150,000 bill (debt per person) … that would get the message across," U.S. Comptroller General David Walker suggested half jokingly to lawmakers Monday. "We are a great country. We are great at spending. But, unfortunately, we are poor at saving."

Walker's point is simple: The national debt is out of control, and it's time to do something about it.

His unorthodox suggestion of charging $150,000 per American accounts for not only $9.2 trillion real national debt held by the U.S. government right now but also factors in the $53 trillion the government has pledged to citizens in Social Security and Medicare payments.

Funds for those programs are supposed to be accounted for in a trust fund set aside for Social Security. Instead, the government has essentially written IOUs for borrowed money.

"If they did this in the private sector," Walker told Congress, "they'd go to jail. You can't invest in your own debt."

President Bush, in his final State of the Union address, told Congress the nation is strong but, according to Walker, the long-term state of the economy, is bleak and getting worse every day.