analyticsbox | Feb 23, 2022
Unsustainable, According to the U.S. Government’s Annual Financial Report
In doing research on the actual liabilities of the U S Government, we reviewed the published financials that the government releases. The first headline in the Executive Summary reads as follows:
‘AN UNSUSTAINABLE FISCAL PATH’
Read this brief Executive Summary and if you are not concerned about where we are headed, then you are not paying attention. In trying to find the ACTUAL liabilities that the government reports, we discovered as of 2020 it is a little lower than the estimates from economists we used earlier, but no less scary. And you have to dig deep into the minutiae of the Notes to the statements to find some of the numbers, but here they are - per the Financial Report of the U.S, Government as of September 30, 2020, the last published report:
Unsustainable, According to the U.S. Government’s Annual Financial Report
In doing research on the actual liabilities of the U S Government, we reviewed the published financials that the government releases. The first headline in the Executive Summary reads as follows:
‘AN UNSUSTAINABLE FISCAL PATH’
Read this brief Executive Summary and if you are not concerned about where we are headed, then you are not paying attention. In trying to find the ACTUAL liabilities that the government reports, we discovered as of 2020 it is a little lower than the estimates from economists we used earlier, but no less scary. And you have to dig deep into the minutiae of the Notes to the statements to find some of the numbers, but here they are - per the Financial Report of the U.S, Government as of September 30, 2020, the last published report:
And it has only gotten worse in the 17 months since then. At least $3,100,000,000,000 has been added to Financial Statement Liabilities, and an unknown number for unfunded obligations and other debt. We will have those numbers when the 2021 statements are published (should be in the next two months).
Here is a short 6 minute video explaining the problem where David Walker, former Comptroller General of the U.S. discusses the debt and some solutions.
If you want real detail, take a look at this excellent article by Dan Mitchell, economist.
By the way, the GAO (General Accountability Office), CBO(Congressional Budget Office), Treasury, OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and the Fed have all PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGED that our FISCAL PATH is UNSUSTAINABLE. They just don’t do much about it.
BOTTOM LINE
This is a scary, scary issue which will bite us in the area where the ‘sun don’t shine’ if we continue to ignore this. We have not gone over the fiscal cliff - yet. But we will if we just close our eyes and hope - hope is not a plan. But there is hope that the problem is fixable, if we have the will to fix it before it is too late. The unfunded liabilities can virtually disappear if we fix Social Security and Medicare, making them self-sustaining. The debt to GDP ratio can get better if we just stop growing the debt, and as the economy grows it will be less and less of a burden.
The ‘voting public’ must have the courage to send a message to Congress to fix this before they will act, so do it and do it NOW.
LEARN ECONOMICS, THEN VOTE SMART
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