I was going to headline this ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ - but I couldn't find anything good. The best thing I can find is that the rate of decline is no worse than it has been and the ‘accrual basis’ loss shrunk to only $2.4 trillion - although the ‘cash basis’ deficit grew to $1.8 trillion (one has to dig deep to find something positive in the US Financials).
Folks, it just keeps getting worse!
Memo from we Citizens:
Dear Government, Please save us from the problems you created.
Thank You.
Here are the facts from the audited US financials as of September 30, 2024 (in trillions of dollars):
2024 | 2023 | |
Financial statement liabilities | $45.50 | $42.90 |
Unfunded Social Security / Medicare obligation | $78.30 | $78.40 |
Debt owed to various government trust funds | $7.10 | $6.90 |
Total Liabilities/Unfunded Obligations | $130.90 | $128.20 |
To put Total Obligations in perspective, this represents $389,583 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
The profit and loss for 2024 isn’t any better:
2024 | 2023 | |
Revenue | $4,978.00 | $4,466.00 |
Cost | $7,403.00 | $7,883.00 |
Net Operating Loss | ($2,425.00) | ($3,417.00) |
Budget Deficit | ($1,832.00) | ($1,695.00) |
*The Budget Deficit is calculated on a cash basis, while the Net Operating Loss is calculated on an accrual basis.
While we are looking at the data, let’s do a quick review of the latest CBO (Congressional Budget Office) projections for the next 10 years as of January, 2025:
· Deficit over the next 10 years: $21.7 trillion
· Interest Bearing debt in 2035: $59.3 trillion
· Ratio of Debt to GDP in 2035: 1.35% (currently 1.27%)
FYI, these numbers are optimistic projections because they only consider current policy and law. This assumes the tax cuts expiring in 2025 will be allowed to expire which increases taxes, which is highly doubtful. It also assumes that there are no recessions, wars, pestilence, pandemics, or any other unforeseen costs. There will be something, but I cannot project the unknown. It will be worse if we do not change policy, no one knows how much worse.
No advanced civilization has ever survived debts like these. The United States will be no exception, it is not a matter of ‘IF’ - it is a matter of ‘WHEN’, if we continue down our current path.
If you haven’t read our most recent pamphlet, Our Ship of State: The USS Titanic, please invest 12 minutes reading it, it’s only 9 pages. It will explain this in more detail, and what we need to do to get to fiscal sanity.
BOTTOM LINE
Folks, we are ‘bankrupt’ but we can still borrow money and survive. The debt Ponzi scheme will collapse someday. Our credit line will dry up and we will no longer be able to survive when that happens.
This is totally avoidable if we get to fiscal responsibility in Washington. Congress will not go there without our support. Therefore:
Listen, Learn, Think, Act: We citizens must understand the facts and then demand that our elected representatives start acting fiscally responsible before it is too late.
LEARN ECONOMICS, THEN VOTE SMART
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