STANFORD, Calif., May 18 (Reuters) - Europe's debt crisis shows the risks for the United States if it does not get its budget deficits under control, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.
"If we need any further illustration of the potential threats to our own economy from uncontrolled borrowing, we have only to look to the struggle to maintain the common European currency, to rebalance the European economy, and to sustain political cohesion of Europe," Volcker said.
Volcker, a special adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, was delivering remarks at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research in California.
Volcker said the United States differs from small European countries such as Greece whose economies have come under speculative attack. He noted that the U.S. currency and credit "are well established."
But he added, "There are serious questions, most immediately about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs."
(Reporting by Jim Christie in Stanford and Caren Bohan in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)