"Whatever it means economically, this is socially and politically unsustainable," he said.

Also unsustainable is the nation's rising debt, now approaching $15 trillion.

Add to that the increasing burden on American taxpayers as millions of baby boomers - those born between 1946 and 1964 - reach retirement age.

"This is going to be 40,000 per person in today's dollars in about 15 years. Multiply that by 7 to 8 million baby boomers - you're talking about $3 trillion per year or so in today's dollars, each year to pay the baby boomers their Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid [health] benefits," said economist Laurence Kotlikoff.

Seeking elusive compromise

It's a scenario Kotlikoff said will eventually bankrupt the country if political leaders do nothing. But finding agreement will be difficult.

With the majority of election spending now being financed by the top one half of one percent of the American population, former U.S. undersecretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro said a handful of wealthy donors can now dictate who gets what done in Congress.

"What that is doing is exacerbating a polarization, which has developed in the last 15 years - and a polarization that is particularly dangerous because it's a polarization that coincides with a nearly even division of the country," said Shapiro.

While the panel insists the slowly recovering U.S. economy remains among the most dynamic and most resilient in the world - Shapiro said today's highly contentious climate could lead to political paralysis on the most important economic issues of the day.