Gregg warns U.S. could face Greece's budget issues

The United States could face a fiscal crisis similar to Greece within five to seven years, a leading budget hawk said Wednesday. 

The national debt is expected to double in five years, triple in 10 years and incur a public debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio around 100 percent, Senate Budget ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said today on MSNBC.

"That's basically banana-republic status. That's junk-bond status," he said. "The implications of it for our ability to pay that debt off and for the world to support us when we're running those types of deficits and debt is very dramatic."

The Senate Budget Committee has approved its fiscal 2011 budget resolution but the House has yet to act because of a lack of support for how to proceed. 

Historically, those debt-to-GDP ratios are around 25 percent, but the nation is spending too much and taking in too little revenue to avoid sliding into a fiscal crisis, he said. 

"If we allow that to continue, we're essentially going to pass on to our kids a country which is significantly less prosperous and where the standard of living will go down." 

The U.S. should be concerned about what's happening in Europe --- Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal -- despite the differences between the economic and deficit structures of those countries, Gregg said. 

"When they get in these problems, not only do they bring that nation down, but they potentially bring a lot of other countries with them and, certainly, affect the value of the euro," he said. "And that's a problem for the world."