From Staff Reports

MARS HILL —America is not going bankrupt — “it is bankrupt” — and the nation is “on an economic death spiral” with $72 trillion in debt (and growing) in a situation that can only resolved by  spending controls, taxing changes and tinkering with health care insurance and other entitlements to make them sustainable.

At least that was the word from John Boyle II, who spoke Sept. 30 in the inaugural university lecture at Mars Hill University’s Broyhill Chapel.

He also said that 108 million-plus of the United States’ 308 million citizens “are dependent on tax dollars — that’s not sustainable.” That number has skyrocketed 229 percent from 33 million dependent on government tax dollars in 1960. During that same period the population went up 72 percent.

Boyle addressed “Let’s Save America (The Unaffordability of American Government and Stanching America’s Slide Into the Economic Abyss).” About 100 people attended.

Boyle founded J.L. Boyle International in 1981 and has more than 30 years of experience working on strategy development, corporate and municipal restructurings, complex analysis and litigation support. 

Billed as “a seasoned expert” with “extensive knowledge of government economic, Boyle began his business career in Ford Motor Co.’s Finance Staff under the direction of J. Edward Lundy, the last of Ford’s so-called “Whiz Kids.”

He holds a master’s degree in actuarial science from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in statistics and operations research from the Wharton Business School. He’s an adjunct professor at Eastern Michigan University.

MHU President Dan Lunsford introduced Boyle, noting, “Tonight, indeed, is a historic occasion,” Boyle said. “In our first quarter as a university…. we’ve initiated a speaker series.

“Tonight is specifically about economics, the state of the United States financial system and how that compares to the world.” 

Lunsford said Boyle wrote in a guest column in the AC-T recently, “Our government shouldn’t make promises it cannot keep, but we should keep the promises we’ve made.”

Lunsford added, “Tonight, we will hear from John Boyle II … The message he will share with us tonight will be interesting, provocative and troubling and, I’m sure, quite thought-provoking.”

Boyle, who began by noting that MHU has a beautiful campus, said, “My speech is a little long — it runs about 75 minutes.” He also fielded questions afterward.

He said he would tell about the following:

• The magnitude of the problem

• The unaffordable government the students at MHU will be inheriting

• What can be done.

“I was going to title this speech ‘How to Save America From Bankruptcy,’ but America already is bankrupt,” Boyle said.

He noted problems with the federal debt at $70 trillion, while state and local government’s debt is about $7 trillion total.

“The folks in Washington continue to pilfer from the Social Security trust fund to pay current expenses,” he said.

Focusing on Social Security and Medicare, Boyle asserted, “Baby boomers point out to me that they’ve contributed to Social Security and Medicaid all of their lives…. Then I ask them did they know that the federal government wasn’t funding Social Security and Medicaid. All of the people I asked about that said they did know about it. Then I ask if they campaigned against that shabby behavior? They said they hadn’t…. So they kept electing people who were looting their Social Security and Medicaid funds — and now they want the benefits.”

Regarding America’s standing as “the greatest nation on earth,” Boyle said, “I think it’s hard to be the greatest nation on earth when you don’t have dry powder….”

However, he acknowledge that on some levels the U.S. still predominates, such as “we’ve got highest GDP in the world. We still have some of the top universities, top military and we typically win the most medals” in the Olympics.

On other levels, America is slipping, Boyle said, noting that it is 10th in economic freedom, “we’re 23rd in science in the world, 31st in mathematics and we’re 18th in life expectancy — just in front of Cuba. We have the highest rate of infant mortality in the first world. We have the most expensive health care in the world... We are slipping….”

In summarizing, he said, “Health care and govevernment cost 78 percent. Everyone in favor of that, raise your hand... No hands raised. That isn’t going to happen. What is going to happen?”

Ultimately, Boyle said, “There’s nothing, nothing, nothing going on in Washington designed to fix that. There’s nobody in Washington saying we’re running on stupid. Nobody.”

He added, “So let’s put that $77 trillion into context (28 times annual revenue) it’s almost five times GDP. It’s a big sum... The entire world economy is $60 trillion. That’s more than the entire world economy that’s not funded.”

Further, he asserted, “We’ve got a millstone around our neck and we’re trying to compete with the world... There are some things we can do. You should become educated about the financial nightmare being foisted on the American people… And next year’s not going to look any better. And it doesn’t matter what happens tonight… It’s a charade.”

Among his solutions are to scrap the current tax system and replace it with a consumption tax. “The current tax system is a mess. It consists of 74,000 pages of tax law. It’s understood by vitally nobody and creates felons out of hardworking Americans. Much of the code was created by lobbyists.

“The main thought I have on this is you’ll get more tax revenue (from a consumption tax). It eliminates tax avoidance by big corporations and it eliminates tax evasion. 

“Some say we can’t raise taxes or reduce benefits… to those, I say, great, then we can’t do anything.

“All Americans should pay at least some taxes. If you use the resources of America, you should pay for the services. That’s my opinion and that’s the way I think it should be.

Boyle also urged the education of others. “People need to be educated on what’s going on.. And you’re not going to get it by watching ‘Dancing with the Stars.’”

Questions that should be answered, going forward, include: “Is it fiscally responsible? Is it affordable? Does the good outweigh the bad?”

Among his other solutions are to refrain from catering to government leaders... Anytime there’s a deficit of 3 percent of GDP,, nobody eligible for re-election,” Boyle urged.