The Liberty Tree Lantern

Pull out your checkbooks because all “the rich” combined have nowhere near this kind of money to steal from.  The only combined people who have this kind of money are the middle class blue collar worker.  The taxman acometh and soon. 

Can you imagine when they add the costs for Universal / National healthcare on top of this?  Also if they steal all the money from the businesses of the wealthy, who is going to employ everybody when they liquidate their companies to pay the taxes for these unfunded liabilities? 

Then to add to the Social Security and Medicare, ON TOP OF that shown below, TARP, TALF, BARF, The Stimulus packages, The Bailouts plus the general cost of the U.S. Government has to be paid for.   So the $59 TRILLION is not the total amount we are going to have to pay for in ADDITIONAL taxation.  From an infinite horizon perspective the Social Security and Medicare debacles are over $90 TRILLION Dollars as reported by the Washington Times on July 2nd 2007 in the op-ed pages.  So no matter how much you pay over the next decade +, in huge increases in your taxes, your posterity will be paying the same or more during the duration of their lifetimes.

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., have introduced a bill to create a permanent commission to make recommendations on maintaining long-term financial stability for the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs. The government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.

“We’re on an unsustainable path and doing a great disservice to future generations,” says Chris Chocola, a former Republican member of Congress from Indiana and corporate chief executive who is pushing for more accurate federal accounting.

Modern accounting requires that corporations, state governments and local governments count expenses immediately when a transaction occurs, even if the payment will be made later.

The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don’t show up when the government reports its financial condition.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.

	The cost per U.S. household of unfunded promises made by federal, state and local government: Medicare $255,280 Social Security $144,251 Federal debt $43,380 Military benefits $25,863 State and local debt $17,537 Federal civil- servant benefits $14,374 State and local retiree benefits $13,114 Other federal obligations $2,548 Total $516,348 Source: USA TODAY research; numbers rounded

Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities. State and local government retirement plans account for much of the rest.

This hidden debt is the amount taxpayers would have to pay immediately to cover government’s financial obligations. Like a mortgage, it will cost more to repay the debt over time. Every U.S. household would have to pay about $31,000 a year to do so in 75 years.

The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which sets federal accounting standards, is considering requiring the government to adopt accounting rules similar to those for corporations. The change would move Social Security and Medicare onto the government’s income statement and balance sheet, instead of keeping them separate.

The White House and the Congressional Budget Office oppose the change, arguing that the programs are not true liabilities because government can cancel or cut them.

Chad Stone, chief economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says it can be misleading to focus on the government’s unfunded liabilities because Medicare’s financial problems overwhelm the analysis.

“There is a shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid that is potentially explosive, but that is related to overall trends in health care spending,” he says.