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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

USA next Greece if Debt Continues

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is warning that the United States is well on its way to facing the same type of debt crisis that has crippled Greece.

“We are on a path which will go to where Greece is, there's no question about that, if we don't adjust our present financial house,” Gregg said during an interview Monday night on the Fox Business Network.

“If we continue to spend much more than we take in…we'll double our debt in five years and triple it in 10 years and essentially be where Greece is in about seven years,” he said.

“So we know we are headed in that direction unless we do something about reducing the level of debt and reducing the level of our spending.”

The national debt of Greece amounts to 113 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, equivalent to what the United States owed shortly after fighting the Second World War. The current U.S. debt amounts to roughly 80 percent of the gross domestic product.

Asked when he expects that the U.S. debt situation will reach the crisis level that Greece is currently facing, Gregg said, “we're looking at maybe the outside 10 years, probably closer to seven years before we hit the wall, so to say.”

The Republican senator said that the signs of a crisis are already here – pointing to recent downgraded ratings of U.S. debt. - Politico Story

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