Using GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) instead of phony premises, counting all government debt and not just the Federal balance (i.e. states and local governments), counting the GSE guarantees (government sponsored entities such as Fanny, Freddie, Sally, FDIC, FHA, etc.) and unwinding some of the Fed's policies, yields the staggering total of $100 trillion to $250 trillion depending on who is preparing the estimate.
There is no way this country can ever amortize that total with taxes ... no matter how much the economy eventually recovers!
Sometime, pick up an economic history text and read what happens to countries who default on their debt obligations either through hyperinflation or through repudiation. It's not pretty!
According to the GAO, the accrual deficit is $4.2T, far surpassing the $1.3T cash flow deficit. The accrual deficit would be substantially larger with more realistic assumptions in Obamacare. I am not even sure that an accrual deficit makes sense because the federal government has no savings mechanism. Additional revenues would be spent, not saved to prepare for future commitments. It is probably more meaningful to project future levels of government spending and borrowing. Both will substantially accelerate in the coming decades. At the very beginning of the baby boom generation, we have unthinkable deficits. I do not see any path to fiscal sanity as conservatives will never have strong control of government.
The consequences of unsustainable debt and spending are frightening. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this problem is not something that the younger generation will endure. It is a problem that every living generation will endure. The economic collapse will impact seniors the most because they have much less ability to manuever around the difficulties.