Do YOU have your $534,000 to kick into the $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations?
The federal government's financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.
This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product.
Medicare alone took on $1.8 trillion in new liabilities, more than the record deficit prompting heated debate between Congress and the White House over lifting the debt ceiling.
Social Security added $1.4 trillion in obligations, partly reflecting longer life expectancies. Federal and military retirement programs added more to the financial hole, too.
Corporations would be required to count these new liabilities when they are taken on — and report a big loss to shareholders. Unlike businesses, however, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check.
The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household. That's more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.
"The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn't take into account what's owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees," says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. "Without accurate accounting, we can't make good decisions." [...]
The government is living far outside their--- OUR means, and we are the ones who will be punished a long time for it. Surprisingly (/sarc) most people don't seem to be so happy with all of this.
On a sidebar, while the media is humming over a rise back to 9% unemployment it is actually... sh-h-h-h! ... closer to 20%, and has been for awhile. (It's like the old fear back in the post-WWII era where folks said the government would never admit there were "aliens" visiting Earth because it would completely trash the human psyche... or something.) As fate would have it, the somewhat alien-looking James Carville warns all this unemployment will be a deal-breaker for Obama in the 2012 election... and is warning of riots. Oh, and he shouldn't count on the youth vote either, dude.
Hopefully The Gipper will bite Obama in the arse in 2012: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
HT: Weasel Zippers
Cross-posted @ CW
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