U.S. deficit last year: "Officially" $1.3 Trillion - But wait a minute !! ....

Apparently there has been some "legal" and "accounting" wrangling going on with all those "official" deficit figures.

It looks like some kind of accounting "loophole" is keeping the possible real deficit amount well hidden.

According to "Standard" accounting methods, the "official" deficit is closer to $5 trillion for 2011 !!!

It looks like the Government decides to leave out certain payments and obligations.

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.

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.

Big Difference !!

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.

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.

Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

The US government is full of magicians, they can out do David Copperfield

reply to post by xuenchen


Check out this link I found:

Institute for Truth in Accounting

They are claiming the "Real Deficit" is 75+ Trillion $ according to their accounting.

I don't know the veracity of that claim however, just passing it on.

I think that the confusion lies in the fact that social security does not employ the workers covered by it. It makes it a benefit plan rather than a retirement plan. All the other entities actually employ(ed) the participants and thus are held to a different standard.

On a cash flow basis the US accounting is correct.

reply to post by xuenchen
The thing is this is still not the real amount of the deficit it is near 14.5 trillion dollars. but then is that the real amount? one article says "You think we owe $14.5 trillion? The real figure is more like $211 trillion"
www.naturalnews.com...

Originally posted by bekod
reply to post by xuenchen

 

The thing is this is still not the real amount of the deficit it is near 14.5 trillion dollars. but then is that the real amount? one article says "You think we owe $14.5 trillion? The real figure is more like $211 trillion"
www.naturalnews.com...

edit on 24-5-2012 by bekod because: (no reason given)

Be careful quoting and reading anything that comes from Naturalnews.com, that site is straight up sensationalism, and usually full of crap.

Originally posted by bekod
reply to post by xuenchen

 

The thing is this is still not the real amount of the deficit it is near 14.5 trillion dollars. but then is that the real amount? one article says "You think we owe $14.5 trillion? The real figure is more like $211 trillion"
www.naturalnews.com...

edit on 24-5-2012 by bekod because: (no reason given)

The $1.3T vs. the $5T number is referring to the year 2011 only I think.

The "Official" total deficit is nearing $16T right now.

Here are two links with "real time" figures.

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

usdebtclock

This is what i have been using for the past 2 years and what people slammed Bush with before OBama they are lying.

6 trillion dollars is what Obama has spent within the next 4 years that debt will rise to 21 trillion dollars now people with their thinking hats on will say if Obama is spending so littlle which we all know is a lie the debt doubled from 10 trillion to 21 trillion.

Didn't shrink now did it?

CBO projects at current spending levels Social Security and Medicare will also account for near 3 trillion within 4 years

www.usdebtclock.org...

All these different numbers for the deficit...Hmmmm . All from different sources...Hmmmmm. Very interesting. Seems sombody is speading disinformation.

To me this means one of two things. One , there is a coverup going on, or two, nobody really knows what the deficit really is.

reply to post by lonegurkha
nobody knows what the real amount is, if some one did and told the real amount, the dollar would be worth 1 cent.

reply to post by bekod



(1914 one dollar bill)


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