Posted on 12/29/2011, 4:52:42 PM by markomalley
Releasing information on the Friday before a big holiday is a time-tested way to bury bad news. So when the Government Accountability Office’s fiscal 2011 financial statements for the federal government were released on the Friday before Christmas, it made sense to read them closely.
Since 1997, the United States has been a rare example of a government willing to publish financial statements using accrual accounting, which counts the cost of promises made as well as cash paid out. And the GAO’s professionalism over the years has won it a reputation for impartiality and effectiveness.
That professionalism is evident in the GAO analysis of the net present value of the Social Security and Medicare promises Washington has made to Americans. “Net present value” means the total that would have to be set aside today to pay the costs of these programs in the future. The government puts these numbers in appendices, rather than in headlines. But the costs are real.
In fiscal 2011, the cost of the promises grew from $30.9 trillion to $33.8 trillion. To put that in context, consider that the total value of companies traded on U.S. stock markets is $13.1 trillion, based on the Wilshire 5000 index, and the value of the equity in U.S. taxpayers’ homes, according to Freddie Mac, is $6.2 trillion. Said another way, there is not enough wealth in America to meet those promises.
If the government followed corporate accounting rules, that $2.9 trillion increase would be added to the $1.3 trillion cash deficit for fiscal 2011 that has been widely reported. And a $4.2 trillion deficit is something that Americans need to know about.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I will give the Compost credit for actually publishing this. I guess the broken clock rule applies here.
Good thing we got that payroll tax cut wich came directly out of social security.
Thanks for posting The Sheriff of Nottingham’s, (Timmy Gee), Annual Feudal Robbing from us serfs Report.
Bookmarked!
Yeah, good thing...
Important thread.
yes wapo reported on this. Nut I am sure they are not the only source to report this.
I wonder if this report always comes out at the same time.
This particular report should be of concern to every single american, even those who suck at the gov’t teat.
This shows clearly that even the suckers won’t be able to suck forever
so let’s just do away with Fica completely. sarc
Amazing.
And then with those in "Did China or Jihadists try to bankrupt America?" from Mar 1 about the near-collapse of the financial system in 2008. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2682067/posts?page=30#30 In the discussion, item 30, I listed a few of the big institutions way too small to have been responsible for that attack. The attack involved amounts much bigger than say the market cap of ExxonMobil.
Another set of huge amounts of money to consider is the notional value of derivatives. Zero Hedge probably has something on that.
And finally sovereign wealth, especially the amounts held by our pseudo-friendly enemies like China and Saudi Arabia.
It would be useful to put all this together in a list in order of amount, as the piece on the $16 trillion bailout began to do. Even better if someone with a background in finance put it all together.
bkmk
What’s going on at the Washington Post? There have been several articles lately critical of the way the nest of vipers have been operating the gubmint.
Just... damn.
Copied, linked, and emailed to everyone in my address book. Posting to FB... now.
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