[FairOpinion]

Actually it's only $23,318 per person.

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

US population is around 300 million.

[Starwind]

Actually it's only $23,318 per person.

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

That is only the money actually borrowed (about $7T).

The $100,000/person is derived from the additional promises to pay SS, medicare, retirements, etc. Some estimates put that commitment figure at $44T which yields $146,000/person.

[eno_]

True.

The $100,000k+ number comes from all other obligations. Basically, they are unfunded pension obligations, assuming the federal government honors those obligations.

So we can either tell the old folks "No, your Social Security payments don't buy you a gold-plated benefits package." and make them settle for less, or we put a huge burden on our childeren's shoulders.

We can reduce the impact of that by allowing our childeren to escape Social Security and build bigger 401k-like funds using at least part of their current Social Security payments. Does that make it more likely the fedgov will have to tell all those old folks to pound sand sooner? Sure, but it's going to happen anyway.

George Bush and his team have done a good job sneaking some good long-range economics into his budgets, like the HSAs in the Medicare bill. Yes, it will be an economic train wreck, but that is inevitable. HSAs will give more people a bigger incentive to do the right thing when it comes to making future decisions about Medicare and other medical entitlements.

I just hope he gets a good "Super IRA" or something like that in for Social Security.