Author Topic: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!  (Read 677 times)

Soul Crusher

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2012, 08:29:52 AM »
Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY


 Updated 10h 34m ago


The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

By Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty Images

Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits.


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Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.

A U.S. household's median income is $49,445, the Census reports.

The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.

The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government's books.

Contrasting deficits

The federal government calculates the deficit in a way that makes the number smaller than if standard accounting rules were followed (in trillions).

Sources: USA TODAY research; Congressional Budget Office



Deficits are a major issue in this year's presidential campaign, but USA TODAY has calculated federal finances under accounting rules since 2004 and found no correlation between fluctuations in the deficit and which party ran Congress or the White House.

Key findings:

•Social Security had the biggest financial slide. The government would need $22.2 trillion today, set aside and earning interest, to cover benefits promised to current workers and retirees beyond what taxes will cover. That's $9.5 trillion more than was needed in 2004.

•Deficits from 2004 to 2011 would be six times the official total of $5.6 trillion reported.

•Federal debt and retiree commitments equal $561,254 per household. By contrast, an average household owes a combined $116,057 for mortgages, car loans and other debts.

"By law, the federal government can't tell the truth," says accountant Sheila Weinberg of the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in Accounting.

Jim Horney, a former Senate budget staff expert now at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says retirement programs should not count as part of the deficit because, unlike a business, Congress can change what it owes by cutting benefits or lifting taxes.

"It's not easy, but it can be done. Retirement programs are not legal obligations," he says.

MM2K

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2012, 07:44:41 PM »
The USA Today is crap. They already tried to say this crap 5 months ago, and its crap. We dont count promised benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because as was already said, those promised benefits can be changed by law. There is no legal obligation to actually pay out those benefits. Only shmucks believe that.
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Soul Crusher

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2012, 07:45:46 PM »
The USA Today is crap. They already tried to say this crap 5 months ago, and its crap. We dont count promised benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because as was already said, those promised benefits can be changed by law. There is no legal obligation to actually pay out those benefits. Only shmucks believe that.

Problem w that is that so far no congress has shown the balls to really get it done on cutting real spending that makes a difference.

MM2K

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2012, 08:30:14 PM »
Dont get me wrong 33. Im not criticizing the thread. Im criticizing the USA Today. The fact that it is politically hard to change the benefits doesnt mean that we should say that the deficit is 5 trillion instead of 1 trillion. Those entitlements are not legally bound and should not be counted until they are actually spent out.

I feel bad about bashing the USA Today, because even though they lean liberal, I do think they try to be fair, but a lot of thier editorials are just way off the mark.
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Soul Crusher

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2012, 08:33:23 PM »
Dont get me wrong 33. Im not criticizing the thread. Im criticizing the USA Today. The fact that it is politically hard to change the benefits doesnt mean that we should say that the deficit is 5 trillion instead of 1 trillion. Those entitlements are not legally bound and should not be counted until they are actually spent out.

I feel bad about bashing the USA Today, because even though they lean liberal, I do think they try to be fair, but a lot of thier editorials are just way off the mark.

had gaybama supported Simpson Bowles , keystone, and actually proposed a  realistic budget GE would cruise to a 2 nd term. 


However, being a commie it is what it is with.  Ghettobama

MM2K

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2012, 08:40:14 PM »
had gaybama supported Simpson Bowles , keystone, and actually proposed a  realistic budget GE would cruise to a 2 nd term. 


However, being a commie it is what it is with.  Ghettobama

That's what is so pathetic about him. Independents gave him such a great benefit of the doubt that he only had to do three things to cruise to a second term : Drop healthcare, support Simpson-Bowles, approve Keystone. Actually, simply dropping healthcare may have been enough to win a second term, but all three of those things would have guaranteed him re-election. If the election were held today he would lose 32 states. It could get up to 40 by November.
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dario73

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2012, 05:34:39 AM »
And yet 48% still approve of the "job" lil barry has done.

I wish that 48% would pick up a gun and eat a bullet.

whork

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Re: USA Today: Real Deficit last year was 5 TRILLION DOLLARS!
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2012, 06:42:27 AM »
Dont get me wrong 33. Im not criticizing the thread. Im criticizing the USA Today. The fact that it is politically hard to change the benefits doesnt mean that we should say that the deficit is 5 trillion instead of 1 trillion. Those entitlements are not legally bound and should not be counted until they are actually spent out.

I feel bad about bashing the USA Today, because even though they lean liberal, I do think they try to be fair, but a lot of thier editorials are just way off the mark.

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