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Walker, Fiscal Ranger
 By Tom Shoop | Monday, January 28, 2008  |  02:58 PM

U.S. Comptroller General David Walker was the featured speaker at Government Executive's Leadership Breakfast this morning, in what could be called an unofficial stop on his Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. (For full details on Walker's presentation about the impending fiscal crisis, see this GAO publication.)

In addition to plugging his appearance in a new documentary, I.O.U.S.A., which played last week at the Sundance Film Festival, Walker offered a few other observations:


  • On the lack of attention to the country's looming fiscal problem: "If it was well understood, people would do something about it."

  • On the political process: "Congress is a committee, and you can't run a country by committee. We're a long way from what the Founding Fathers intended."

  • On the need for reengineering federal programs: "Government in many cases is based on conditions that existed from the 1940s to the 1960s."

  • On oversight of federal operations: "The problem in government is not fraud, but waste. It's huge, and getting bigger."



Comments


This is a true loss; I. G. Walker was one of the few in Washington, DC upon whose word and facts one could count. As "Walkerfan" notes so cogently:"It was so refreshing to hear real, open criticism that wasn't partisan. Not to mention the emphasis he places not only on the crisis, but solutions." Amen, and a loss for all of us.

karter  | Friday, February 15, 2008 |  04:43 PM


General Walker is America's best friend!

Ellison Horne

Ellison  | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 |  08:37 PM


I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Walker speak at a conference in DC in November, and I am a huge fan. He speaks honestly about our impending fiscal crisis, the insanity of how we calculate and report our national debt, and the expansion of our federal government into areas never imagined by the Founders. It was so refreshing to hear real, open criticism that wasn't partisan. Not to mention the emphasis he places not only on the crisis, but solutions.

Walker Fan  | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 |  07:40 AM


Will it ever change? Do like his thoughts though.

And.....  | Monday, January 28, 2008 |  03:29 PM



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Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.

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