Research

Is Obama’s binge spending putting us in imminent danger? That’s what Rudolph Penner of the Urban Institute says in today’s San Francisco Chronicle:

“In my judgment, a crisis could occur next week or 10 years from now,” said Rudolph Penner, an Urban Institute economist who co-chaired a huge budget report sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration. “I don't really think we can go much beyond 10 years.”

We’ve already seen signs that Obama’s binge spending is causing problems in the economy.  Previously we’ve highlighted the fact that investors are becoming increasingly leery of buying U.S. treasurys as concerns about our debt grow. As a result, the yield on U.S. treasurys has been increasingly rising, with the ten-year note hitting 4% today.  The Wall Street Journal explains why this is cause for concern for Americans:

The yield on the 10-year Treasury is a basis for calculation of mortgage rates, and higher yield leads to higher rates. Just in the past week, the mortgage rate climbed to 5.08% as Treasury yields inched closer to 4%.

Penner is right: a crisis is coming, but with Obama’s record on binge spending we’re not sure if he will notice until it’s too late.