NCPA
The United States is functionally bankrupt says Mike Whalen founder president and chief executive officer of Heart of America Restaurants and Inns and the policy chairman at the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Lets look at the simple numbers of our national debt. Our on-the-books national debt is $11.6 trillion but off-the-books federal debt including Medicare and Social Security is $107 trillion:
- This is the amount we should have in the bank according to the federal governments own accountants to pay for our current promises to our retirees and future retirees.
- This doesnt include unfunded obligations that we have to the pensions and benefits promised to federal workers and veterans.
- Nor does it include huge unfunded pension and benefit obligations for other public employees at levels below the federal government.
Lets just add the $11 trillion to the $107 trillion and we get $118 trillion:
- Now our total annual national output or gross domestic product (GDP) is about $14.3 trillion.
- Total federal receipts or income if stated in business terms are about $2.5 trillion.
- This means that our debt to federal income ratio is about 47 and that ratio assumes that the federal revenues are free to retire the obligations which they are not.
We must pay for defense and a myriad of other programs. Again in business terms there is no free cash flow to pay these massive obligations says Whalen.
Our total national private net worth according to the Federal Reserve Board is about $51.5 trillion. That means our federal unfunded liabilities represent 2.3 times our collective net worth. Thats pretty darn broke says Whalen.
Ask any accountant banker or anyone remotely familiar with simple accounting knowledge if we can service this debt and the collective answer is a resounding no. Any business with these ratios would be a complete basket case hopelessly bankrupt. Unlike General Motors Corp. there is no one with the wherewithal to bail out the United States says Whalen.
Source: Mike Whalen We Broke the Bank Washington Times August 11 2009.
For text:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/11/we-broke-the-bank/
