BBC - American Time Bomb

Is America facing an even greater threat to its economy than the meltdown of its banking system? David Walker, the former Comptroller General of the United States believes that his country is about to drown in an ocean of debt. He’s so concerned that he quit his job to raise public awareness on the issue. He believes his message to be the financial equivalent of former president Al Gore’s warning about the environment, An Inconvenient Truth.

The statistics are staggering, with the US government debt running at more than $10 trillion - much of it to China. David Walker believes it is set to rise and rise unless policy changes. And with many people urging President-elect Barack Obama to spend his way out of recession, it may be that the underlying weakness of the American economy can only get worse.