Posted on 12/04/2008 12:23:58 PM PST by GonzoII
The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that the current total owed to Americans in federal benefits, but for which there are no funds available, is $53 trillion. Those allocated benefits are for Social Security and Medicare and several other programs...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
(CNSNews.com) - Even prior to the economic downturn, the U.S. economy could not have borne the costs of fulfilling President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign promises, economic expert Leonard Burman told CNSNews.com on Tuesday at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.
Now that the economy is officially in recession, it is even less capable of financing such expansion, said Burman.
But former Congressional Budget Office Director Robert Reischauer, on the same panel with Burman, said that Obama has promised to make cuts in government programs to pay for expanded federal spending.
Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a division of the non-partisan Urban Institute, said of the projected cost of Obama’s campaign promises: “I don’t think we would have been able to afford it in the first place. The Obama plan would have added at least three-and-a-half trillion dollars to the national debt over the next several years, and that’s just the tax part. The health [insurance] part is another $1.6 trillion.”
“The deficit is a serious problem, and you would hope he [Obama] would take it more seriously as president than he did as a candidate,” Burman said.
But Reischauer, CBO director from 1989 to 1995 and currently president of the Urban Institute, defended Obama, citing his intentions to pay for additional programs by making cuts in existing government programs.
“Well, just to defend the president-elect, he [Obama] said, ‘I am going to make corresponding cuts in other programs to finance this,’” said Reischauer. “Now why is it that we believe that he is going to provide all of the goodies and none of the pain?”
Reischauer said it is feasible that Obama will decide to change his plans because of the economic downturn.
“He could come back to us now and say, ‘You know, I can’t find enough savings here [in existing government programs], so I am not going to do this [add new programs,]” Reischauer said.
Burman added that Republican presidential nominee John McCain had vaguely recognized overspending problems in the U.S. budget and promised “draconian cuts.”
Neither candidate’s plan, however, would have adequately dealt with the kind of deficits the United States will face, said Burman.
“There would have been trillion-dollar deficits,” said Burman. “I think both Obama and McCain were in La La land.”
The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that the current total owed to Americans in federal benefits, but for which there are no funds available, is $53 trillion. Those allocated benefits are for Social Security and Medicare and several other programs.
The scholars were speaking as part of a panel discussion entitled, “The Audacity of Campaign Promises: The Obama Agenda Meets Fiscal Reality.”
The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the administration of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson.
“but for which there are no funds available, is $53 trillion.”
—
Ouch!
Now they tell us.
UFB
At some point they are going to have to raise taxes and cut benefits. Letting people escape paying after they hit the age of 50 won’t work due to the need to have money now to pay for current needs.
Liberalism killed the US of A.
The Audacity of Campaign Promises: The Obama Agenda Meets Fiscal Reality.
Is this guy like David Walker?
I think I’m going to register as Amish for tax purposes. Hell I won’t see a dime from social security anyway so why should I put my money into it?
OK all you liberal/socialists, are you beginning to feel like you wish you hadn't voted for the one. We told you it wouldn't work!
It's impossible for me to comment on this without swearing and sounding seditious.
So says an EXPERT, like everybody didn’t already know that!
Oh, except for the fools that believe he (BO) walks on water.
It is our moral and patriotic duty to “turtle up” and not help the economy recover during 0bamanation - imagine what this guy would have done with an economy as good as the 90’s.
Well, at least I’m not one of the disenfranchised voters. I voted for the “other one” not “THE ONE.”
“The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that the current total owed to Americans in federal benefits, but for which there are no funds available, is $53 trillion.”
That’s the good news. The bad news is that:
1. It’s a net present value figure, meaning future shortfalls have been discounted 3% a year. The figure essentially the amount we’d need in the bank TODAY, earning a guaranteed 3% a year, in order to cover all those future obligations.
2. The figure only accounts for the next 75 years. That is, even if we found the funds to cover that amount, once we arrived at 2083, there would be trillions MORE we would owe over the next 75 years, for the very same reason: Congress has massively over-promised goodies for seniors while massively underfunding those same promises. Over an infinite time horizon, the figure is closer to $100 trillion.
3. As a comparison, the current net worth of the US, counting all private property, financial assets etc. held by American citizens minus any debt owed on said property, is in the $60 trillion dollar range.
In short, the very clowns who now wish to spread around $1 trillion to “jump start” the American economy have done an abysmal and thoroughly irresponsible job of “managing” Uncle Sam’s fiscal affairs.
He’s just another lying person who wanted to be elected, and now he joins the rest of the lying theives who are stinking up our nations capital.
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.