The Political Coalition: Congress fiddles while they don’t tell us the actual horrible truth about what we each owe?

By John Sykes

Here’s what the government prefers to make us think. In 2010 the average family size in the US in 2010 was 2.63 souls. That means the average household in the US owes $83,820.73 and approximately $131,500 by 2020.

Pretty bad isn’t it? No, it get’s far, far worse.

What corporations call liabilities far differs from the government accounting hogwash. Unlike businesses, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check. Try that at home!

That’s why it gets even scarier when you figure the actual total U.S. debt if you include future Social Security and Medicare obligations, otherwise known as “unfunded obligations”.

From USA Today:

The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $528,000 per household. That's more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.

"The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn't take into account what's owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees," says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. "Without accurate accounting, we can't make good decisions."

So what does your household owe? Just add your personal debt to $528,000 and you have an approximate number.

Wait a minute! We’re not done.

That’s an average figure. If you are paying more than the average income taxes paid in this country, i.e. ,in a higher tax bracket, which you must be if you are actually worried about all this, you actually owe far more than that $528,000 plus your personal debts. Double? Less? More? The math is beyond me. But it probably doubles in my case and we are not wealthy.

What’s scariest of all? These aren’t projections, these are actual numbers. If our government doesn’t get a balanced budget soon, none of this will mean anything. We’ll be bankrupt soon enough and living in Greece.