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adwads
12-17-2007, 04:01 PM
God, it's worse than I thought...



http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gMSVWqL3tikhx7L_ompt0hDXO-5AD8TJCLJ80

$45 Trillion Gap Seen in US Benefits
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The shortfall between the promises the government has made on Social Security, Medicare and other benefit programs is $45 trillion over the next 75 years, up nearly $1 trillion in just one year, the Bush administration reported Monday.

The administration, releasing the "Financial Report of the United States Government" for 2007, said that the gap between benefits that have been promised and projected revenues is up 67.8 percent from just four years ago, when it was estimated at $26.9 trillion.

This shortfall includes Social Security and Medicare in addition to Railroad Retirement and the Black Lung program.

When the shortfall in 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.

"Our government has made a whole lot of promises in the long-term that it cannot possibly keep," Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, said Monday.

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.

"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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

On the Net:
Annual financial report: http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/index.html

jstmike
12-17-2007, 05:22 PM
This report makes me sick. I work too hard to stay out of debt personally.

This is from page 36 of the report:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/07frusg/07frusg.pdf


Considering this projected gap in social insurance, in addition to reported liabilities (e.g., debt held by the public and federal employee and veterans benefits payable) and other implicit commitments and contingencies that the federal government has pledged to support, the federal government’s fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000. This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately
$455,000 per American household.

Everyone should take the time to read this report and it will further cement in our minds why we need Ron Paul as President.

Page 41 of the report breaks down many of the departments and how much they spend.

Oh to see the size of government:


Twenty-Four CFO Act Agencies:


Department of Agriculture
www.usda.gov
Department of Commerce
www.doc.gov
Department of Defense
www.defenselink.mil
Department of Education
www.ed.gov
Department of Energy
www.doe.gov
Department of Health and Human Services
www.hhs.gov
Department of Homeland Security
www.dhs.gov
Department of Housing and Urban Development
www.hud.gov
Department of the Interior
www.doi.gov
Department of Justice
www.usdoj.gov
Department of Labor
www.dol.gov
Department of State
www.state.gov
Department of Transportation
www.dot.gov
Department of the Treasury
www.ustreas.gov
Department of Veterans Affairs
www.va.gov
Environmental Protection Agency
www.epa.gov
General Services Administration
www.gsa.gov
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
www.nasa.gov
National Science Foundation
www.nsf.gov
Office of Personnel Management
www.opm.gov
Small Business Administration
www.sba.gov
Social Security Administration
www.ssa.gov
U.S. Agency for International Development
www.usaid.gov
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
www.nrc.gov

Eleven Additional Significant Entities:


Export-Import Bank of the United States
www.exim.gov
Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation
www.fcsic.gov
Federal Communications Commission
www.fcc.gov
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
www.fdic.gov
National Credit Union Administration
www.ncua.gov
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
www.pbgc.gov
Railroad Retirement Board
www.rrb.gov
Securities and Exchange Commission
www.sec.gov
Smithsonian Institution
www.si.edu
Tennessee Valley Authority
www.tva.gov
U.S. Postal Service
www.usps.gov

One Hundred Thirteen Additional Entities:


Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
African Development Foundation
American Battle Monuments Commission
America’s Education Goals Panel
Antitrust Modernization Commission
Appalachian Regional Commission
Appalachian Regional Development Fund
Architect of the Capitol
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation
Botanic Garden
Broadcasting Board of Governors
Central Intelligence Agency
Chemical Safety Hazard Investigation Board
Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation
Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad
Commission of Fine Arts
Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century
Commission on Civil Rights
Commission on International Religious Freedom
Commission on Ocean Policy
Commission on Online Child Protection
Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure-United States
Commission on Security & Cooperation–Europe
Committee for Purchase from People who are Blind or Severely Disabled
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Community Management Staff
Congressional Budget Office
Congressional-Executive Commission on the People’s Republic of China
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Corporation for National & Community Service
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for DC
DC Courts
DC Courts–Defender Services
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Delta Regional Authority
Denali Commission
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Program
Election Assistance Commission
Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Executive Office of the President
Farm Credit Administration
Federal Election Commission
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Appraisal Subcommittee
Federal Housing Finance Board
Federal Labor Relations Authority
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Federal Trade Commission
Government Accountability Office
Government Printing Office
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Trust Fund
Institute of Museum Services
Interagency Council on the Homeless
Inter-American Foundation
International Trade Commission
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Japan-United States Friendship Commission
John C. Stennis Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Judiciary Office Building Development
Library of Congress
Marine Mammal Commission
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Merit Systems Protection Board
Military Sales Program
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Morris K. Udall Scholarship Foundation
National Archives and Records Administration
National Capital Planning Commission
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
National Council on Disability
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Gallery of Art
National Labor Relations Board
National Mediation Board
National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust
National Transportation Safety Board
National Veterans Business Development Corporation
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission
Office of Compliance
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Navajo & Hopi Indian Relocation
Office of Special Counsel
Office of the Federal Coordination for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects
Open World Leadership Center Funds
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Panama Canal Commission
Peace Corps
Presidio Trust
Public Defender Service
Selective Service System
Senate Preservation Fund
St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
State Justice Institute
U.S. Capital Preservation Commission
U.S. China Security Review Commission
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
U.S. Institute of Peace
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
Vietnam Education Foundation
White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars


Entities Excluded from these Statements are:


These specific entities are not considered part of the Governmentwide reporting entity based on the individual
assessment of the entities with respect to the indicative criteria stated in SFFAC No. 2, Entity and Display:

Army and Air Force Exchange Service
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Including the Federal Reserve Banks)
Federal Home Loan Banks
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (Including the Thrift Savings Fund)
Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae)
Financing Corporation
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac)
Marine Corps Exchange
Navy Exchange Service Command
Resolution Funding Corporation
Student Loan Marketing Association (SLMA or Sallie Mae)

thisisgiparti
12-18-2007, 02:17 AM
It would take Ron Paul 8 years to hack away at even a third of that bureaucratic gangrene.

jstmike
12-21-2007, 02:42 AM
Page 156 talks about Human Capital

http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/07frusg/07frusg.pdf


The Government runs several programs that invest in human capital. Those investments go toward increasing and maintaining a healthy economy by educating and training the general public.

It sounds like we are just a commodity like cattle.