Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned
By Jeremy Grant in Washington

Published: August 14 2007 00:06 | Last updated: August 14 2007 00:06

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, [u]issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulationsâ€