Posted on 04/11/2013 4:32:25 PM PDT by Nachum
The longterm U.S. debt under President Obama’s latest spending plan is far worse than his budget suggests, reaching a total of about $84 trillion – that is, 8.4 percent of a quadrillion dollars, or $0.084 quadrillion.
Yes, it’s time to start using the quadrillion number, because with trillions getting added to the debt at an accelerating pace, the numbers are starting to become meaningless again unless put in the proper perspective.
The Obama budget forecasts a startling federal debt of just over $25 trillion. But that’s only the beginning of the frightening story of the government’s longterm obligations.
Over future decades, Medicare – before taking into account Obama’s “cuts” – has an unfunded liability of close to $43 trillion, according to the most recent Social Security and Medicare actuaries report. That is what the government is currently obligated to pay out to this and the next couple of generations – but for which it has no method on the books of raising money. It just owes that amount, and would currently have to borrow to pay it.
(Excerpt) Read more at minutemennews.com ...
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
L0,000,000,000,000,000L
Oh brother. We have a long way to go to get to a Quadrillion. We will ALL be dead by time that day comes (at least those of us on Free Republic). Even if we spend 20 trillion a year, it would take a long time to get to Quadrillion. Nice story but very exaggerated.
A quadrillion is the same as one thousand trillion. We already owe 84 trillion. Just 916 trillion more to get to the quadrillion magic number. The way Obama is spending, we will reach it in 11 years.
Maybe so, but unfunded liabilities of the U.S. government for Social Security, Medicare, Prescription Drugs, etc. total an eighth of a $quadrillion. Furthermore, the derivative bubble is estimated to be quadrillion dollars. So we probably should get used to using the number.
That puts us in easy striking distance of $100 trillion or 1/10 of a quadrillion. Not much of a stretch to see that number hit $250 in no time as the US spirals into a fiscal black hole. Then we can use the term "quarter quadrillion". "Quarter quad", "quarter mill"; has a nice ring to it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.