Bowles: "These deficits are like a cancer"

As Congress is expected to discuss President Obama's "American Jobs Act," University of North Carolina President and former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles sends Congress a firm warning.

"These deficits are like a cancer. They will truly destroy this country from within if we don't take care of them," Erskine told CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Nancy Cordes in an interview.

Bowles is convinced the country is at a breaking point.

"If we fail to act, we face the most predictable economic crisis in history," he said.

Bowles recently served as a co-chair on President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Where he wanted to reduce Social Security payment and increase the retirement age.

"There is no easy solution. There is no easy way out. All of the decision are going to be tough that these guys are going to have to make," he said.

Bowles has recommended different ways Congress can reduce the deficit, to see those suggestions check out the video on the left and see more on tonight's "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley."