"[Rising federal debt] leaves us very vulnerable to a global rise in interest rates that might be substantially beyond our control....It's a little like what happened to the subprime borrowers-people are just assuming the funding will always be there."
--Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff, quoted in New York Times on rising interest rates, June 3, 2009
A June 1, 2009, blog post by Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag attempted to define the White House's more than $1 trillion health reform initiative as fiscally responsible because "at worst, we [will] have a deficit-neutral plan that will not worsen our fiscal situation." However, a history of government-run health programs illustrates a fundamental flaw in Orszag's premise-new health entitlements have frequently exceeded cost estimates by very wide margins.
