Rand Paul: “as I stand before you, we are facing a financial calamity that could make the last financial crisis look like the good…”

“as I stand before you, we are facing a financial calamity that could make the last financial crisis look like the good old days. I have become aware of a committee of respected financial industry experts that has developed a Debt Default Clock, which conceptualizes the risk associated with a potential Federal debt crisis that leads to the insolvency of the government. The Debt Default Clock is the same concept as the famous Doomsday Clock, only in this case illustrating how close we are to fiscal meltdown. The Debt Default Clock has 12 factors that are used to measure the risk associated with the burgeoning Federal debt. The Clock currently stands at 4 minutes to midnight, which means that insolvency of the Federal Government is close at hand, and we have little time to act. Although the 12 criteria were developed on the basis of defining the circumstances leading to government insolvency and default, they were also created with the idea of identifying metrics that can be measured, watched, and compared over time to identify the time remaining before the sequence of insolvency and default. Eight of these factors are already in negative territory, and the others are moving in that direction. In 2010, I ran for the Senate out of concern that our out-of-control debt might finally take us off the cliff. It is frustration with rampant, deficit-financed spending that sparked the Tea Party; yet the situation continues to get worse.…”