Day of reckoning is approaching: it's pay me now or pay me later.

• Author: Farrell, Lawrence P., Jr.
• Position: President's Perspective

* In the Popeye cartoon, Wimpy would say, "I'll gladly pay you 5 cents Tuesday for a hamburger today." That sort of sums up where this country has been heading financially for quite some time. Except that our "Tuesday" has been much further out than next week.

Tuesday is much closer now. In an old commercial for Fram oil filters, a mechanic is seen wiping his hands on a rag, standing in front of a car with the engine disassembled, in a state of major repair. The mechanic intones dramatically, "You can pay me now or pay me later." His meaning is clear: Changing the oil and the filter on a regular basis is a necessity that can't be ducked. You can pay a modest fee every 3,000 miles to replace oil and filters (pay me now) or you can pay a much larger fee when the engine has to be rebuilt (pay me later).

The same analogy holds true for financial matters. Investments that are made regularly and consistently over time grow large because of the magic of compounding. Unfortunately, compounding also works against you when liabilities are carried over time. Bills and obligations pile up, and when the reckoning comes, the necessary adjustments are large and most uncomfortable. If those obligations are "promises" to a large number of people and institutions that have planned their lives and futures around these "promises," the adjustments are more than uncomfortable. They can destroy futures.

A few citizens in this country have seen a promise-delivery disconnect coming for a long time. One such person is the Honorable David Walker, former comptroller general of the United States, former president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and now the founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative. Walker is the high priest of financial rectitude. Regrettably, far too many of his pews are empty right now.

Walker has been delivering a consistent message for some time. Back in 2003 when he was the nation's comptroller general, he said at the National Press Club that "deficits are structural and not manageable without significant changes in status quo programs, policies and operations." He projected deficits in 2003 and 2004 of $401 billion to $480 billion. When excess Social Security payments were backed out, those deficits rose to $562 billion to $664 billion. He said then that the United States could not grow its way out, because of demographic trends and exploding health care costs. And that annual budget decisions without adequate consideration...