US Closes 2011 With Record $15.22 Trillion In Debt, 100.3% Debt/GDP, $14 Billion From Debt Ceiling

Zero Hedge ^ | January 3, 2012 | Tyler Durden

[lbryce]

Unabridged Title:US Closes 2011 With Record $15.22 Trillion In Debt, Officially At 100.3% Debt/GDP, $14 Billion From Breaching Debt Ceiling

While not news to Zero Hedge readers who knew about the final debt settlement of US debt about 10 days ahead of schedule, it is now official: according to the US Treasury, America has closed the books on 2011 with debt at an all time record $15,222,940,045,451.09. And, as was observed here first in all of the press, US debt to GDP is now officially over 100%, or 100.3% to be specific, a fact which the US government decided to delay exposing until the very end of the calendar year. We wonder, rhetorically, just how prominent of a talking point this historic event will be in any upcoming GOP primary debates. And yes, technically this number is greater than the debt ceiling but it excludes various accounting gimmicks. When accounting for those, the US has a debt ceiling buffer of... $14 billion, or one third the size of a typical bond auction.

[familyop]

Oh, no. Don’t look at our US debt. China’s been collapsing several times a week for over five years now. ...”ghost cities,” no one to buy their products, and so on. Look at that. It was paid for by our globalist media sponsors and bipartisan, socialist controllers of politicians (recipients of incomes from all levels of government).

[WilliamofCarmichael]

SS and Medicare solved!

100,000,000 geezers (like me) after all the Boomers retire. (I had a head start -- I beat them all!)

Avg SS payment is $11,000/year
that's $ 1,100,000,000,000 a year for.. lets say 20 years
that's $22,000,000,000,000

OK, so lets say that Medicare in those years is $80 trillion.

So far so good. No problem. There is no question that we owe Obamacare and Pelosi a debt of gratitude for solving the problem.

President Obama: At that age just a pill might be better than expensive cures.

PELOSI: Palliative End of Life Optimum Serenity Initiative

"Old people never seem to die, they just get in the way."

Former Governor of Colorado Democrat Richard Lamm: Seriously ill old people have a duty to die and get out of the way.

Revised estimates:

SS payments for retirees: A mil or two.
Medicare: $74.93 (500 million pills made in Red China)

See! No problem. Obama! Mmmm, mmmm, mmm.

The $600 trillion estimate for undocumented workers is a bit of a problem over the few decades -- both Parties do love those taxpayer-subsidized "cheap" labor and votes.

[Bon mots]

It's not just sovereign debt that will destroy the Republic, there is a litany of ills that nobody can fix, even if they wanted too. We have accumulated them since the very beginning of the 20th century.

There is no simple fix for the numerous problems that confront our Republic. Problems that cannot be fixed during a single election cycle, nor even a decade.

Some of these problems have plagued us for decades, but the effects have been so long-term (like the proverbial boiling frog), that only now are the cumulative effects being noticed.

The slow, sad hollowing out of America's industry was somewhat hidden by the 'fix' of pumping money (debt) into housing... in many urban centers old factories were converted into residential condominiums in many choice locations (the Boston waterfront abounds with such lofts)... so the decay was limited to the worst, most undesirable places... this 'fix' is no longer feasible.
Housing booms and the jobs and market demand they have created in recent times will no longer be the salve which eases the pain of de-industrialization.

We now are faced with a brewing perfect storm that presents a variety of problems, any one of which could perhaps, be fixed... but as a coctail of very serious ills are impossible to remedy without some sort of revolution.

For starters:
1.) The Social Security Ponzi Scheme
2.) The Federal Reserve Scheme
3.) A (debased) Fiat Currency
4.) Sovereign Debt of more than the nation's GDP (and growing...)
5.) A union-run, failing education system
6.) Excess litigation run by trial lawyers have created a lawsuit lottery that we all must pay for
7.) 3 levels of (excess)taxation (Local, State, Federal) as well as hidden taxes in every imaginable area
8.) The switch from HTM to MTM accounting (2007)
9.) 13% welfare-dependent minority 'workforce' which is resistant to education, prone to violence and criminality and devoid of familial responsibility and decency - 50 years of 'head-start' did NOTHING to fix this.
10.) "War" on everything with asset seizure the main focus (War on drugs, War on Terror, War on...) The result has been the institutionalization of society - we are all subject to searches by the various Gestapos.
Police can seize property and cash without consequence - even of some hapless man visiting a prostitute.
11.) Eminent Domain (used as a discounting mechanism by well-connected developers, or by income-hungry municipalities to deprive the rightful owners of prime property in order to increase tax revenue - without the annoyance of paying market price to said owners.)
12.) A fast emerging violent Police State and the institutionalization of society.
13.) More than 2 million Americans on a government payroll somewhere and/or at some level
14.) More than 50% of the population gets money from the government. (Salary, programs and entitlements)
15.) More than 45 million collect food stamps (that's a hidden 'bread line')
16.) An expensive imperial army with nearly 1000 bases, fleets and 'toeholds' worldwide

You could write a chapter on each of the above...

Who can fix this mess?
Nobody even has a realistic plan.

Even if we did, we would need to put the country back to the condition it was at the turn of the 20th century with regard to a business, regulation and tax environment - with few exceptions.
It still would not be the same - that is, as easy to re-industrialize - as nowadays, we are competing with China, India, Brazil and numerous emerging markets which in many cases have a better educated workforce and none of our disadvantages.
When is the last time you saw a new shining factory go up in the big de-industrialized city near you?