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"I think we have got about three years to deal with this," Corker, R-Tenn., told a packed house at Pellissippi State Community College.
It was the 44th presentation discussing the debt crisis that Corker has delivered around the state this year.
Corker used graphs, charts and basic economics to make his case. At the core of the problem is the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, he said. In simple terms: the U.S. government spends more than it takes in.
The current debt to GDP ratio is about 62 percent and is projected to increase, based on current trends, to as high as 146 percent by 2030, he said.
If Tennesseans used the same kind of budgetary logic, the average household in the state making $43,000 per year would be spending about $70,000 per year, Corker said.
Corker said it would take a $6.7 trillion reduction in government spending over the next 10 years to return to a balanced budget at about 18 percent spending to GDP ratio.
Other sources have suggested that increased revenue projections for the government might allow the country to balance the budget at a ratio of 21 percent spending to GDP.
"Somewhere between 18 percent and 21 percent there's a deal," he said.
Countries, like households, go into debt when they spend more money than they bring in, Corker said. If nothing is done to stop spending, by 2035 25 percent of the GDP would be paying interest on money the country owes to other countries, he said.
Indebtedness carries with it certain obligations, Corker explained, citing examples from his own business career when he courted banks to get loans. He cautioned that some countries holding U.S. debt, including China, may not have our country's best interests at heart.
Corker said he plans to introduce a bill that would cap spending and incentivize growth.
"We have to fundamentally change the way Washington does business," he said.
Corker's message was not lost on the audience, many of whom spontaneously voiced their opinions during the presentation.
James Arthur, a Knoxville resident and self-described member of the tea party movement, carried a sign that outlined the gap between spending and GDP. The amount spent on welfare was prominently noted on the chart.
Ed Whiting, a retired Air Force officer and Farragut resident, sat with other veterans in the audience. He said he understood and agreed with Corker's message.
"We can't go on forever borrowing money," Whiting said. "We've been ignoring the problem for a long time."
The situation is not hard to understand conceptually, but can be very hard to implement, he said. Americans have become comfortable with entitlements, he said.
As a senior citizen, he said he can understand the desire to protect Social Security benefits while at the same time understanding that continual increases based on average wages may not be sustainable, Whiting said.
Other members of the audience took advantage of the question-and-answer session to sound off about issues such as the Federal Reserve.
Kevin Desmond, a Knoxville Tea Party member, said he would like to see the Federal Reserve Bank dissolved. His remarks touched off a series of shouts from audience members quoting the Constitution.
"I guess I hit a nerve," Desmond said.
Hugh G. Willett is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.
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