Steamboat Springs — David Walker blames the “wing-nuts” on the left and the right in Washington, D.C., for the dysfunctional fiscal policy of the United States.

The wing-nuts, Walker said Wednesday while driving to Steamboat Springs, are the career politicians who disproportionately represent the political extremes and dominate the political process.

“We can and will have a debt crisis in the next several years if we don’t change course,” said Walker, who is the speaker for tonight’s Seminars in Steamboat lecture series summer finale.

The free seminar starts at 5 p.m. at Strings Music Pavilion. Tickets are free and will be distributed starting at 4:15 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.

Walker’s talk is titled “Restoring Fiscal Sanity,” and he said the subject is timely given the recent debt ceiling crisis that led to Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the United States’ credit rating.

“There was absolutely no question that we had to raise the debt ceiling because we’re spending $4 billion more each day than we are taking in,” Walker said.

He said his talk tonight will focus on where U.S. fiscal policy has been, where we are and where it’s heading. Everything has to be on the table to solve the problem, Walker said, including putting restraints on government spending, reforming entitlement programs, addressing health care inflation, capping military spending, eliminating waste, fraud and abuse and broadening the tax base.

“The vast majority of the problem is a spending problem, and to restore fiscal sanity it’s going to be primarily spending cuts, but not solely,” Walker said.

He also calls for ending the Bush tax cuts and overhauling the tax code.

Walker is the founder

and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, a nonprofit organization that promotes fiscal responsibility and sustainability by engaging the public and assisting key policymakers on a nonpartisan basis. The goal is to achieve solutions to fiscal imbalances.

Walker was the first president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and has more than 20 years of private-sector experience, including approximately 10 years as a partner and global managing director of Human Capital Services for Arthur Andersen.

Walker has authored three books, is a frequent commentator and is a subject of the documentary “I.O.U.S.A.,” which explores the issues surrounding the country’s growing national debt.

For those who cannot make it to tonight’s seminar, Walker’s talk will be broadcast from 6 to 7 p.m. Sept. 4 on KUNC, 88.5 FM.

To reach Matt Stensland, call 970-871-4247 or email mstensland@SteamboatToday.com