JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As President Obama and Mitt Romney prepared for their Denver debate Wednesday, a former Washington insider rolled into Jacksonville with a semi-truck sized message.
David Walker is a former U.S. Comptroller for the Clinton administration. He's taking the $10 Million Dollar a Minute bus tour across the U.S. Walker says the public is getting duped. America's total public debt exceeds $16 trillion. Once the country's top auditor, Walker now rejects that calculation.
“That doesn't count unfunded civilian and military pensions, retiree health care, unfunded Social Security/Medicare promises,” said Walker.
According to Walker's math, the U.S. government actually owes $70 trillion - that's 77 percent more than the publicly-stated amount. Walker's traveling debt clock called the “U.S. Burden Barometer,” got a lot of attention from workers inside the Wells Fargo building. The rapidly rising numbers forced investor Lou Walsh to do a double take.
“I was terribly worried about how fast the numbers were rolling. I couldn't believe how fast our national debt is increasing,” said Walsh.
The point of this politicized bus, Walker says, is to pressure the two presidential candidates into finding a sensible solution to a growing problem.
“I'm not going to endorse a candidate during this tour and I may not endorse a candidate, period. I'm talking about the facts, the truth, the tough choices and the solutions,” said Walsh.
The tour will be in Atlanta on Thursday and will wrap up October 10 in Washington D.C.
