Washington 'doing nothing’ to prevent ‘fiscal cliff’

The U.S. is heading towards fiscal disaster and no one in Washington is doing anything about it, the authors of the Simpson-Bowles reform plan and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein told CNBC Thursday.

"People are never going to understand how critical this particular time in history is," said Erskine Bowles, the North Carolina businessman and co-chairman of President Barack Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. "We have $7.7 trillion worth of economic events that are going to hit America in the gut in December, and in Washington they're doing nothing about it."

Bowles' co-chair on the commission was former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, who said political culture in Washington is preventing any action to address what is known as the "fiscal cliff."

"They're both in this," Simpson said of the warring Democratic and Republican parties. "They worship the god of re-election." CNBC News

FACTS & FIGURES

The U.S. trade deficit widened in August as slower global growth reduced demand for American exports. The gap grew 4.1 percent to $44.2 billion from $42.5 billion in July, according to Commerce Department. Bloomberg

Overall, the United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001. The economic Collapse

The velocity of money in the U.S. has plunged to a post-World War II low. The economic Collapse

At the moment, there are approximately 56 million Americans that are collecting Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to grow to an astounding 91 million.  The economic Collapse

Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. The economic Collapse

Most of the jobs the U.S. economy is producing now are low income jobs. In fact, since the end of the last recession, 58 percent of the jobs that have been created are low paying jobs. The economic Collapse

More than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government or that more than half of all Americans are now at least partially financially dependent on the government. The economic Collapse

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