Paul Volcker has coasted through his life being revered by most pundits. However, previous commentaries have not been so kind in evaluating this infamous central banker. Volcker recently penned a piece for the New York Times titled “Ignoring the Debt Problem” . In writing this piece; Volcker has demonstrated at the least that he is severely irony-impaired. At worst, Volcker has shown the world that he is a shameless hypocrite. As an aside, he is also apparently incapable of performing simple arithmetic.

Insults, invective and pandering have been poor substitutes for serious debate about the direction in which this country is going — or should be going. And a sound and sustainable fiscal structure is a key ingredient of any viable economic policy.

Yes, this country can handle the nearly $600 billion federal deficit estimated for 2016. But the deficit has grown sharply this year, and will keep the national debt at about 75 percent of the gross domestic product, a ratio not seen since 1950, after the budget ballooned during World War II.

The picture Volcker paints is relatively clear. The infantile politicians of the U.S.’s Two-Party Dictatorship spend their time engaging in pointless grandstanding and/or juvenile mud-slinging at their supposed opponents rather than focusing on prudent fiscal management of the nation. Meanwhile, the United States is developing a severe debt problem. Unfortunately, Volcker’s self-serving description of the state of the U.S. economy and the (lack of) fiscal responsibility of the U.S. government bears little resemblance to the real world.

The U.S. national debt is about 75% of GDP? What year was that Paul?

Anyone capable of Googling the U.S. “debt clock” will already know that the current, U.S. national mega-debt totals $19.7 trillion – and is rising rapidly. U.S. GDP for 2015 was reported at just under $18 trillion. Even if we back up the U.S. debt clock to the beginning of this year, we see that the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is well over 100%, and has been at that level for many years.

However, for those living in the real world, even a debt-to-GDP ratio for the U.S. of slightly more than 100% is a ridiculous understatement. U.S. GDP is systematically padded with more than $2 trillion/year of imaginary economic activity, thus real U.S. GDP is at an annual level somewhere below $16 trillion.