Posted on 11/26/2007 7:32:25 AM PST by doc30
Every year, tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars are quietly added to the national debt -- on top of the deficits that we hear about. What's going on here?
Consider the proud trumpeting that came from Washington at the close of fiscal 2007. The deficit for the unified budget was, politicians crowed, down to a mere $162.8 billion.
In fact, our government is overspending at a far greater rate. The total federal debt actually increased by $497.1 billion over the same period.
[snip]
Fiscal year | Reported surplus/deficit | Debt increase | Debt at start of year | Debt at year's end |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 |
$236.2 billion surplus |
$23.2 billion |
$5.606 trillion |
$5.629 trillion |
2001 |
$128.2 billion surplus |
$141.2 billion |
$5.629 trillion |
$5.770 trillion |
2002 |
$157.8 billion deficit |
$428.5 billion |
$5.770 trillion |
$6.198 trillion |
2003 |
$377.6 billion deficit |
$561.6 billion |
$6.198 trillion |
$6.760 trillion |
2004 |
$412.7 billion deficit |
$594.7 billion |
$6.760 trillion |
$7.355 trillion |
2005 |
$318.3 billion deficit |
$550.6 billion |
$7.355 trillion |
$7.905 trillion |
2006 |
$248.2 billion deficit |
$546.1 billion |
$7.905 trillion |
$8.451 trillion |
2007 |
$162.8 billion deficit |
$497.1 billion |
$8.451 trillion |
$8.949 trillion |
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
On a $30,000 investment over 30yrs with a $100,000 return on investment is only 3.0% on return. You would do better in stock market which on average gives you about a 8.0% return on long term investing.
If you took $30,000 and invested it in stocks at 8.0% you would have $331,000 after 30 years and if the husband put in $30,000 over 40 years they would have another $737,000 to spend in their old age. If you think all us taxpayers who have worked hard and payed our SS tax are getting a good deal from SS in our retirement years you are sadly mistaken.
NO2
The dollar has been considerably devalued.
::::::
I even recall some of my early days of business travel to the Orient, when I could get well over 300 yen for a buck. The steady decline is evident.
The reported number is inaccurate and worthless.
Following is a list of the major funds taken from the most recent budget:
DEBT HELD BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS (billions of dollars) Investment or disinvestment Holdings ----------------------------- end of 2006 % of 2007 2008 2008 % of Description actual total est. est. est. total ---------------------------------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------- ----- Old-age and survivors trust fund.. 177.0 57.2 180.2 203.6 2176.9 51.5 Civil service retirement & disabil 29.2 9.4 9.3 30.1 729.4 17.2 Hospital insurance trust fund..... 24.9 8.1 11.9 3.3 317.4 7.5 Military retirement trust fund.... 4.5 1.5 27.1 7.6 216.5 5.1 Disability insurance trust fund... 8.9 2.9 4.2 5.7 212.0 5.0 Medicare-eligible retiree health.. 19.9 6.4 23.5 24.1 120.3 2.8 Unemployment trust fund........... 11.4 3.7 12.8 12.0 91.0 2.2 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.... 1.1 0.3 1.8 2.9 53.9 1.3 Employees life ins & health benfts 4.1 1.3 3.0 2.4 51.4 1.2 Supplementary medical insurance... 15.9 5.1 8.8 6.3 48.2 1.1 Postal Service retiree health fund 0.0 0.0 31.4 6.9 38.2 0.9 Housing and Urban Development..... -0.2 -0.1 -0.3 0.6 30.7 0.7 Nuclear waste disposal fund....... 1.0 0.3 0.1 0.9 19.7 0.5 Highway and Airport trust funds... 0.6 0.2 1.5 -1.8 18.6 0.4 Exchange stabilization fund....... 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.4 16.4 0.4 Foreign service retirement & disab 0.5 0.2 -0.5 0.1 13.5 0.3 Other government accounts......... 10.1 3.2 -12.8 0.6 75.9 1.8 ---------------------------------- ------- ----- ------ ------ ------- ----- Total investment in Federal debt.. 309.3 100.0 302.1 305.6 4230.1 100.0 Source: Budget of the United States Government, FY 2008, Analytical Perspectives, page 230, table 16-4
As can be seen, over half of the debt held by government accounts is held by Social Security. The next largest holders are the Civil Service Retirement and Disability trust fund, Medicare, and the Military Retirement trust fund.
The trick is that for years the Social Security, Transportation and land funds run large "surpluses". This amount is netted against the large deficit in the General fund.
True. The following graph shows various measures of the deficit:
The actual numbers and sources are at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/def08.html. The purple line is the "unified deficit" and is equal to all federal receipts minus all federal outlays. This is the deficit that politicians always talk about and includes the receipts and outlays of the government accounts listed in the table above. This deficit is very nearly identical to the public deficit (the blue line) which is equal to the change in the debt held by the public. The green line shows the change in the debt help by the public PLUS the debt held by the Social Security trust fund. Finally, the red line shows the gross deficit which is the change in the gross federal debt. This debt includes the debt held by the public PLUS the debt held by government accounts, shown in the table above. This is the debt that is currently over $9 trillion.
As can be seen, the unified deficit was in surplus from 1998 through 2001. However, the gross deficit has never reached a surplus since 1969. It did come relatively close, reaching a low of $23.2 billion in 2000 but has been over a half trillion dollars per year for the past four years.
You can view the historical tables at treasury.gov, or just google "national debt history".
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