There's a lookout in the tower and his name is David Walker. He is touring the country to raise the alarm that every citizen needs to understand what is coming. Who is Mr. Walker? He's the head bean counter who works for Congress (head of the GAO). Government spending, debt, and accouting are this guy's specialty, and he is speaking out about a Titanic style crisis looming on the horizon.
If he works for Congress, isn't he supposed to report to them? Well yes, and I have the feeling that he has been for several years with little effect. I get the impression he is so frustrated with the lack of honest lawmakers, he is taking his case directly to the people.
What is the GAO? They are an orgainization founded by Congress in 1921 to monitor and report on government spending. They are based out of DC and maintain 11 additional offices around the country employing approxsimately 3,000 people. They have made recommendations to Congress that have saved American taxpayers over $50 Billion to date.
Don't you hate that feeling when you are the last to know something? Or when you knew things weren't good, but you didn't realize just how bad they had gotten. You get that kinda-sick feeling, then the indignation sets in. Well, strap in gentle reader, you ain't gonna like this:
According to Mr. Walker's presentation, our hard debt has reached a total of 10 Trillion bucks (American, not Pesos). That's a lot of money. For those of us who don't write Trillion dollar checks everyday, here's a breakdown.
A Trillion is a Million, Millions. Yep, you'd have to win Survivor one million times to earn a Trillion dollars(and that's a lot of rice and bug bites).
$10,000,000,000,000.00
Now, don't forget, most of an iceberg is underwater, where you can't see it. At the GAO, they call that "unfunded liabilities." Yes, it gets worse. The future obligations that we have agreed to pay our citizens for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid total almost 50 Trillion.
If you do the math on that, each man, woman, and child in the US owes the government $156,000 (my family of four $624,000)! Or, around $375,000 per employed person.
Annual Federal Tax receipts are around $5 Trillion. If you and I ran our finances like the government, what would that look like? Let's compare the hard debt to credit card debt, and unfunded liabilities to a home mortgage. Oh, and let's assume a household income of $80,000.
Your credit debt: $160,000
Home mortgage debt: $800,000
Your debt would consume all of your income!
In other words, you would be forced to declare bankruptcy. But, America is the richest country on earth! No, we are the biggest debtor nation on earth, our wealth is borrowed (from foriegn governments by way of trade imbalances), printed (by the Federal Reserve), and is coming to an end.
The main thrust of David's presentation is that we "cannot grow our way out of this" and that it will require real change to our Federal spending, Entitlement Benefits, and Tax laws if we hope to remain solvent. You may view his presentation here:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Which Presidential candidates are giving you the real facts of our financial situation, and which are just shining you on?