Posted on 10/18/2012 9:13:21 AM PDT by george76
Because of an accounting gimmick where governments pretend future liabilities dont exist and, therefore, dont account for them, most Americans dont know how big the problem really is. The amount typically reported, nearly $16 trillion, is actually only the surface of our debt...
Americas total debt when accounting for unfunded future liabilities in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security and state and local bond debt exceeds $130 trillion.
Take a moment for that to sink in: $130 trillion.
Today, more than 40 percent of our annual state budget comes from an obviously broke federal government, yet some opinion leaders in Oklahoma want the band to play on. Indeed, a fatalistic worldview is common among elites. Nothing to see here, folks; full steam ahead with the status quo and everything will be fine, they say, much like the experts who thought the Titanic was unsinkable. After all, the federal checkbook has never shut down.
...
So what happens when that funding is cut off? Anyone who looks at the budgets can see that happening. Anyone who says otherwise is being intellectually disingenuous...
Real leadership isnt striking up the band while the ship is sinking; real leadership is being aware of oncoming obstacles, taking a proactive approach to confront them...
(Excerpt) Read more at okgazette.com ...
The average American wouldn’t understand it. The politicians know this. Why do you think we got to this point?
These socialists : Obama ,democrats and the media have created this mess. They’ve put Americans in a huge hole.
Wonder why the media never reports this?
bfl
Thanks George....”Americas total debt exceeds $130 trillion..... 40 percent of our annual state budget comes from an obviously broke federal government, “
We are broke and those we owe money to are broke...GOD help us-———
bfl
Dude, that's over a tenth of a KaBillion!
Yeah, but Joe Biden says he wants us all to be able to look our children in the eye and say, “Honey, it’s all going to be alright.”
Son of a bitch.
Currently the interest rate is so close to 0% the $130 trillion estimate is probably way out of line.
We need to see the interest rate and other assumptions before we can render judgment.
As bad as this looks, imagine if we continue to have deflation at current rates and the interest rate is actually something like -3%. Then, acquiring more obligations would be valuable because way down the line they'd be paying the government for the privilege of being on welfare!
Bwahahahahahha
The politicians also know that we'll never pay this.
” The politicians also know that we’ll never pay this. “
Of course they know it. They are scum, but not ignorant scum : )
The Dems know what the implications are, and they are happy about it. They cant destroy the Republic and install a socialist dictatorship until the system collapses. They will spend as much as they can to enjoy life while this system lasts and to be in charge when it’s gone.
$130T/$16T GNP = 8.1 Years. It's not great, but it's not "immediate pending dooom" either.
It's like having a mortgage 8 times your salary. Certainly a bigger mortgage than I would want.
On the other hand, our economy is currently seriously impaired. 25% of our people aren't working. Fix that, GNP goes up and the debt burden isn't as onerous.
And why not?! There’s more than a few on here alone that believe they’re entitled to what they ‘paid in’, never caring the taxes they paid was never guaranteed.
I’m constantly amazed that those ‘older and wiser’ believe(d) anything coming from a politicians mouth or a flowery worded titled bill out of Congress.
A good man, I might add. A good Oklahoman!!
No, it's not.
A mortgage is a liability. It's counterbalanced by an asset, the house. Normally, you have some equity in the house as well.
There is no offsetting asset for these obligations of the Federal and state governments.
There is some. There are roads and bridges, government buildings, schools, federal lands, military assets, etc.
In the decades leading up to obama's election, the Republicans were also guilty. To a degree, everyone who has ever gone to congress has sold us out, either actively voting for spending which has taken us to the edge of oblivion, or by not screaming to high heaven to get it stopped.
If he or she had to, he or she should have gone so far as to immolated him- or herself in the well of the senate to draw attention to the problem, hyperbolically speaking, of course.
Colorado owes over $80 Billion and growing?
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