Recently the head of the GAO came to Austin, pictured to the right. Extra points for anyone who can say where the picture was taken from. And bonus points for saying what those white tanks are in the foreground.

Does this all sound familiar?

"It's an unfair burden for future generations," [Diane Lim Rogers, an economist from the Brookings Institution] says.

"We all agree on what the choices are and what the numbers are," [Alison Acosta Fraser, director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation] says.

You can't solve a problem until the majority of the people believe you have a problem that needs to be solved," [David M. Walker, head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office] says.

Sounds like global warming, doesn't it?

The subject, brought up at Austin's Driskill Hotel last Saturday by the above-mentioned speakers, is the U.S. budget deficit, which, if it continues to grow as it is currently, will end up eating up much of available tax revenue just to pay interest on the debt. Other countries have been there before, such as Brazil and Argentina. The U.S. could go there, too.

Worldchanging needs to take this into account. Renewables replacing fossil fuels should improve the economy and provide fewer reasons for military expenditures to prop up regimes in oil-bearing regions. Hey, maybe we could even decrease military spending, which currently takes up more than half of the entire U.S. federal budget! This should be a big help for the U.S. deficit.

-jsq