Patrick J. Buchanan: Is a U.S. default inevitable?

Patrick J. Bucanan writes at Townhall: “Penner and Walker believe it imperative to get the deficit under control. Unfortunately, it is not possible to see how, politically, this can be done. Consider. The five largest elements in the budget are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense and interest on the debt . . . How does one stop the exploding national debt from surging above 100 percent of GDP? . . . What the looming fiscal crisis of this country portends is nothing less than a test of whether this democratic republic is sustainable.”