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| $45 trillion gap seen in US benefits |
| 2007-12-18 |
| The government is promising $45 trillion more than it can deliver on Social Security, Medicare and other benefit programs. $45T by when? Will it be paid down, or continue to grow? That is the gap between the promises the government has made in benefits and the projected revenue stream for these programs over the next 75 years, the Bush administration estimated Monday. The $45.1 trillion shortfall has increased by nearly $1 trillion in just one year, according to the administration's "Financial Report of the United States Government" for 2006. And, it's up 67.8 percent in just the past four years. In 2003, the shortfall between promised benefits and revenue sources over a 75-year period was put at $26.9 trillion. The shortfall includes Social Security and Medicare in addition to Railroad Retirement and the Black Lung program. I wonder if we're going to see a marked decrease over the next few years in the Dems reminding everyone that it was them that invented Social Security. When the gap in funding social insurance programs is added to other government commitments, the total shortfall as of Sept. 30 represented $53 trillion, up more than $2 trillion in just a year, the report said. Osama and Zawahiri are so proud of you. Of course they're pretty upset that they went to all the trouble of starting WW III when all they would have had to do was wait another few months for you to take yourselves out. Oh well. Same end result. "Our government has Members of Congress said the increase in the unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare underscored the critical urgency to do something in light of the looming retirement in coming years of 78 million baby boomers. Not bad for a bunch of guys who need a bench vice to do their testicular cancer checks. "The longer we delay action on the issue of entitlement reform, the more difficult the solution will become," said Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. Thanks for the tip, genius. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., said the new report emphasized the need to enact legislation he is supporting that would create a bipartisan commission to make recommendations on overhauling benefit programs and then submit those recommendations to an up-or-down vote in Congress. It'll cost you about $1.5T/year to yak about it. Maybe you could get free catering to the lunch meetings because it's fairly important and might be worth the money. "If we don't take action now, it threatens to destroy our social safety net and ruin our economic prosperity," Cooper said in a statement. Didn't W say something like that about four years ago? Perhaps these idiots think the people have forgotten already. That only cost them $6T to figure that out. It only took me about two seconds to figure it out at the time. I guess I should be King. I'd say "Off with their heads!", but it wouldn't make any difference because they aren't using them anyway. The new report said that the federal budget deficit would have been 69 percent higher than the $162.8 billion reported two months ago if the government had used the same accounting methods as private companies. Under the accrual method of accounting, the deficit would have totaled $275.5 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. That's OK, at $1.5T/year, the $162B over two months figure is actually smaller making it the lesser of your worries. Oh, nevermind. I can guess right now which problem will sieze your focus. Under the accrual method of accounting, expenses are recorded when they are incurred rather than when they are paid. That raises the costs for liabilities such as pensions and health insurance. The new report was released by the Treasury Department and the president's Office of Management and Budget. The $275.5 billion deficit under the accrual method of accounting was still down by 38.7 percent from the deficit under this accounting method the previous year, when it totaled $449.5 billion. The deficit on a cash-flow basis of $162.8 billion represented the lowest imbalance in five years. The administration noted the decline in the deficit under both measurements. "The 2.6 trillion in record-breaking revenues that flowed into the Treasury this year reflect a healthy economy," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a statement accompanying the new report. Yeah. Don't tell the Dems, though. Waste of time. You would do better to tell them "Method A results in more revenues and therefore more pork than Method B." Just make sure you don't tell them that Method A is the result of lower taxes and they choose properly. Note that I did not say spend properly. But officials warned that something must be done to address the significant shortfall in the government's largest benefit programs for Social Security and Medicare. You act like you just discovered something that nobody knows about. "Reducing the deficit in the short-term will put us in a better position for dealing with the longer-term entitlement issue, which can only be characterized as an oncoming fiscal train wreck," said OMB Director Jim Nussle. I would never have guessed. Congress ordered the government a decade ago to start issuing annual reports using the accrual method of accounting in an effort to show the finances in a way that was comparable with the private sector. The law of averages says they'll end making the right decision now and then. Too bad it has to be by mistake. As it has for every report, the GAO, Congress' auditing arm, said it could not sign off on the books because of problems at various agencies, most notably the Defense Department. Besides, they'll be dead when it starts to be a real problem, anyway. Screw the children, it'll give them something to do when they grow up. |
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