Yes, ten tines as many trillions of debt burden may be in our future. How so? Because government debt is not tallied according to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that by law private corporations must use. Applying same to our own federal & state debt numbers: add $2.5TR for state debt; add $3TR to cover "defined benefit" state government pension plan liabilities, which assume absurdly unrealistic investment returns to fund promises based upon such pretensions; add another $1TR for state-promised health care & other benefits; add $500B for Fannie & Freddie--these figures strike me as low; and then add (NOT a misprint) some $106TR for unfunded Social Security & Medicare liability, if the latter two are realistically calculated--that is, not assuming savings congress asserts it will enact but which in fact are less likely to be enacted than Iran's nut-cake "A-Jad" prez converting to...Orthodox Judaism.
It all then adds up to $127TR--round to $130TR and have a nice day.
Fred Barnes points to Canada as a debt success story over the past 15 years by taming spending growth while cutting taxes. Sounds great, but forget about it until 2013 at the earliest. Re 2013, the latest Rasmussen poll--taken over a three-day period before Obama's BP speech--shows a record low rating for The One: By 57-42 voters disapprove of his performance, and this includes a 44-24 spread between those who strongly disapprove versus those who strongly approve. The latter number is telling, as the 24 percent number is likely almost all Democrats only, while the 44 number must include swing voters as well. Indeed, among independents who feel strongly, the tally is running 52-12 against the President.
Bottom Line. Tell the kids to never mind school & get to work so they can start paying taxes now, unless America makes an Oval Office change come November 6, 2012.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, Economy, Conservative Politics
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