David M. Walker, the country’s former comptroller general, tells the economic summit that voters have to demand changes to bring the nation’s debt in line.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

SMITHFIELD — The country is in a $53-trillion financial hole, but few of the nation’s leaders — including the two leading presidential candidates — are willing to grapple with it.

So said former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, who plays a key role in a new documentary film about the nation’s debt problems.

Besides an $11-trillion debt, the country is also saddled with $34 trillion in unfunded Medicare promises, $7 trillion in unfunded Social Security promises and $1 trillion in miscellaneous debts, Walker said at an economic summit at Bryant University in Smithfield.

The total — $53 trillion — is the equivalent of $175,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in the country, Walker said.

Federal budget controls expired several years ago and now, “Washington is out of touch and out of control,” he said.

But even if the annual federal budget is balanced, the overall debt will continue to grow — automatically — unless voters hold elected leaders accountable and demand solutions, said Walker, former head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress.

“America is at a crossroads,” he said. “We have much to be proud of and much to be thankful for, but we have strayed” from the nation’s founding core values.

Voters should demand that candidates for elective office acknowledge the $53-trillion problem, change the nation’s tax policy and address entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, he said.

He added that the nation must no longer write a “blank check” when it comes to health-care costs. “If we don’t get health-care costs under control, we will bankrupt this country,” he said.

Walker also told about 230 business leaders, academics and others at the summit that “too many Americans are following the bad example of the federal government — spending more than they make.”

Today, he said, “both America and Americans are addicted to debt.”

The nation’s overall debt problem is “unbelievably scary,” Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley said in an interview at the summit. “We are spending more than we can possibly generate” in revenue, he said.

If the nation’s elected leaders fail to address and resolve the problem, voters should consider using a constitutional convention to get the job done, Walker said.

He now is president and chief executive officer of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in New York, traveling the country to raise awareness of the nation’s debts.

He also plays a key role in I.O.U.S.A., a new documentary film about the nation’s debt problems.

An 85-minute version of the film is now playing in select theaters nationwide. A 30-minute version will be made available online in October and a 60-minute version will be broadcast on national television in January, Walker said in an interview during the summit.

Also yesterday, he noted that Rhode Island Auditor General Ernest A. Almonte will soon become chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the professional organization for about 334,000 CPAs nationwide.

Almonte, a CPA who holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Bryant, is the first AICPA chairman to come from the government sector, Walker said.

Almonte is currently the AICPA’s vice chairman. He takes over the AICPA chairman’s seat in October for a one-year term.

ndowning@projo.com