What Is The Real Threat To U.S. National Security

Photo: America’s reputation for reliability was already suffering, the author writes. Reuters

The Real Threat To U.S. National Security -- Richard Haass, Politico

The United States faces a number of serious challenges from abroad, including a more assertive China, terrorists, climate change, a North Korea with nuclear weapons and an Iran close to having them, and a turbulent Middle East. But the greatest threat to American national security comes from within — from our own political dysfunction.

The ongoing shutdown of the federal government is only the most recent example of this reality. It comes against the backdrop of sequestration (which cuts spending without regard to its economic consequences and fails to protect investment in the physical and human capital needed to make this country competitive over the long term) and the pending vote to raise the debt ceiling, the failure of which to pass would push interest rates higher, causing both economic growth and markets to plummet.

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My Comment: I concur with the analysis that if America's financial house and growth of government is not scaled back .... I cannot see it sustaining itself with the debt and future obligations it has assumed.