Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) amped up his rhetoric on the dangers of government spending and debt yesterday, telling host Chris Wallace, “I told you the other evening, if we didn’t take some pain now, we’re going to experience apocalyptic pain.”
Coburn was on Fox News Sunday, and Wallace described him as something of an “alarmist” when it comes to the debt and federal spending. Coburn agreed: “I think within 3-4 years, if we have not done the critical changes that we have to make, I think the confidence in our economy and our currency will be undermined significantly. And that may scare some folks — it’s not intended to.”
“We’re not taking seriously the very real and urgent threat that will undermine the standard of living in this country,” Coburn continued.
He went on to say: “Chris, the history of Republics is they average 200 years of life, and they all fail in history over fiscal matters. They rot from within before they collapse.”
“We need a wake up call,” Coburn added. “We need real leadership.”
The apocalypse comes in at around 7:30. The fall of the Republic happens at 11:40:
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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