By Gitanjali Poonia, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — It's 2005, and for the citizens of Greece, everything is going great. The economy is thriving, and the interest rates on the national debt are low. Politicians aren't sounding the alarm.

"But a few Cassandras were out there are looking at demographics and the burden of government, saying, 'We have a problem,'" said Dan Mitchell, a federal economist.

A Cassandra is a priestess in Greek mythology fated to make true predictions.

Two years later, a financial crisis, similar to the Great Depression in the U.S., hit Greece, The European country was allowed to borrow $146 billion from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in exchange for severe tax hikes and spending cuts. This was one of the many bailouts Greece received. According to a 2015 report, the economy shrunk by a quarter, as the people of Greece faced unemployment, pay cuts, and eroding social safety nets. Those who could leave left the country.

Today, Greece's debt — the highest in all of the EU — makes up 160.2% of its Gross Domestic Product.

"If there were some responsible lawmakers in Greece, who, five or 10 years earlier, had simply taken some responsible steps to slow down the growth of government ... all that economic and human suffering could have been avoided," said Mitchell in an interview. "Now, I think the same situation is true in the United States."

Mitchell admitted he doesn't know when the U.S. will hit the brick wall. It could be in two years or 15. "But there's no question we're heading in a dangerous direction," he said.

'They don't really understand'

The latest poll by Main Street Economics, a nonpartisan organization that educates the public about fiscal responsibility, found more than 85% of Americans are anxious and troubled by the ballooning national debt of $34.47 trillion, which equates to over $100,000 per citizen.

In the poll of 1,000 U.S. voters, 59% said they believe lawmakers aren't doing enough to address the debt crisis while only one-third, or 34%, of the voters think policymakers are tackling the issue.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50952805/the-federal-government-needs-to-be-put-on-a-diet-economist-says