Pigs Fly Alert: USAToday front page story exposes $59 Trillion US Debt ($516,000 per household)

Man, the MSM is going HP it looks like. We've been screaming about this issue forever, and I do believe this is the very first MSM article that I've seen.

Meanwhile, do Americans even care? I think when you say "$59 Trillion" people's eyes gloss over. What's on America's Top Model?

It's sickening that our government so blatantly deceives us, and the MSM goes along for the ride. Bravo to Dennis Cauchon at the USAToday for doing his job. Too bad it's too late, and too bad his MSM peers are so pathetically incompetent.

Folks, we're either going to have to go insolvent, cancel entitlement programs, or print dollars like Wiemar Germany to get out of this mess.


Taxpayers on the hook for $59 trillion
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.

"We're on an unsustainable path and doing a great disservice to future generations," says Chris Chocola, a former Republican member of Congress from Indiana and corporate chief executive who is pushing for more accurate federal accounting.

Modern accounting requires that corporations, state governments and local governments count expenses immediately when a transaction occurs, even if the payment will be made later.

The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don't show up when the government reports its financial condition.


Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.


BALANCE DUE
The cost per U.S. household of unfunded promises made by federal, state and local government:


Medicare
$255,280


Social Security
$144,251

Federal debt
$43,380

Military benefits
$25,863

State and local debt
$17,537

Federal civil- servant benefits
$14,374

State and local retiree benefits
$13,114

Other federal obligations
$2,548

Total
$516,348

Paulson on entitlement programs: "Rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues"

I've got a silly question.

Why doesn't anyone in America seem to care that we're lurching toward insolvency?

Or that the baby boom generation looted the treasure of the United States, at the expenses of all future generations?

One day soon we're going to have to face up to our problems, if we want to or not. And I can tell you one thing - Generation X and Generation Y are gonna be PISSED when they finally figure out what the baby boomers were up to (with their money).

The trustees who oversee Social Security and Medicare issued new warnings yesterday that the two programs are becoming unaffordable but pushed back slightly their predictions of when the crunch will hit.

By 2017, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, the trustees said in their annual report. The program's trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2041, one year later than estimated last year.

Medicare, which serves more than 43 million elderly and disabled people, is in worse shape, with its hospital insurance trust fund projected to be insolvent by 2019, trustees said. But that also was one year later than last year's forecast.

"Without change, rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues, and threaten America's future prosperity," said Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, who serves on the six-member panel of trustees.

Over time, the programs are expected to consume a growing share of the federal budget. This year, about 7 percent of federal tax revenue goes toward paying Social Security and Medicare benefits. The figure is projected to climb to more than 10 percent by 2012, and 26 percent by 2020, said economist Thomas R. Saving, a trustee.

To keep the programs going, Congress and the president will have to increase taxes, reduce benefits or do both, the trustees said. "Without significant reform, these programs are not sustainable in the long run," Saving said.