Study: U.S. Debt Obligations $70 Trillion

A new study by University of California-San Diego economics professor James Hamilton finds that the United States has over $70 trillion in off-balance sheet liabilities--an amount nearly six times the on-balance-sheet debt figure.

Study: U.S. Debt Obligations $70 Trillion

Pay attention there people that is two different set's of books.

The Treasury debt outstanding is $16.74 trillion. Of that, $4.84 trillion is money the U.S. owes itself. For that reason, explains Matt Phillips of Quartz, “many analysts tend to focus on the $11.91 trillion in debt that is publicly available to be traded.”

Publicly traded debt ! !

Now why on earth are federal liabilities not included on the governments 'official' numbers ?

Guess we'll just chalk that up to 'transparency' .

So they say 70 trillion of promises made because that is what a liability is so where are they gonna come up with it?

A shrinking tax revenue base, more people on the government dime now more than ever, the rest of the world is continually developing, and increasing their standard of living, and invite investment that creates opportunity, and here we are.:

The majority of people think they really can squeeze blood from a turnip.

Mr. and Mrs America you all are in for a very RUDE AWAKENING, and no amount of rob from the rich, and give to the poor is going to even come close to fixing America's biggest problem:

Those champagne wishes, and caviar dreams all on a walmart paycheck that is a REALITY CHECK of course people are free to continue to live in denial that has worked out 'so' well so far.

reply to post by neo96


I normally agree with ya on most things...but I can't on this one. I find the premise unfair at best and comparing Apples to Pineapples. Just under 17 trillion is owed today. Those are real dollars with real paper, people are generally holding in one form or another today. From bonds and T-bills in retirement/pension funds to what other nations hold (the much lower figure).

The 70 trillion is projections and expected amounts to pay out into an unknown future. Congress could change that this year or a few years from now and radically change the whole picture with that side of things. The 17 trillion is sitting there until paid, no matter what else happens. Sitting and building with that interest...

reply to post by neo96


Regardless of whether it's 17 trillion or 70 trillion [yikes ] , how will we ever get out of this mess?
Collapse more than likely from what many "experts" say.

What goes up must come down.
And when it comes down, watch out.
It will be a total cluster......well, FUBAR.

But I understand the premise for this figure...."the nation’s true debt obligations".
All the promises that have been made for spending obligations for the future.
Not only what has already been spent but what will be spent due to obligations.
I hope I got that right......

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

I find the premise unfair at best and comparing Apples to Pineapples

Not really as the national debt is created for the lack of funds to pay for those 'liabilities' that in itself is a liability because sooner or later it is going to have to be paid.

hose are real dollars with real paper, people are generally holding in one form or another today. From bonds and T-bills in retirement/pension funds to what other nations hold (the much lower figure).

That debt is intragovernment debt that is owed money to those programs(people)., those 'investment vehicles' supposedly cover the tax revenue shortfalls, and it doesn't, and doesn't come anywhere near because as that debt occurs, interest is charged, and more programs and more debt is created.

Those Bonds,T-bills. are extra government debt is trillions more that this country owes for other countries.

I think it is a fair comparison because that 'unfunded liability' gets chalked up to the nation debt as time progresses.

They are cooking the books they should lay it all out there on the table.

American finances are ROYALLY screwed up.

reply to post by neo96


Oh I agree entirely on the finances being a nightmare on steroids. They are and it's mathematically impossible to escape from at this point. The debt is too large and at the moment? Oh we're in a fine mess. We really are. We have two very ugly choices. They can raise the debt ceiling and allow it to climb, which it must even if all spending stopped today due to the interest and compounding nature of it OR they can not raise it and the debt WILL stop building, but the interest won't. That's the express elevator to total national destruction. The building interest then builds backward on the debt and budget. If we can't add, we must cut. Even they can't invent a way around that (the ceiling HAS been the way around). So each year the amount of the current spending would drop by more and more in an uncontrolled and really destructive way.



That's one of the dozen or more outtakes I've got from the '13 budget proposal submitted by the White House in 2012. The bottom 3 lines are the relevant ones. The lower number, which normal folks and pension funds hold (among others) and the one above it which is what China, Japan and others hold of our debt.

As you can see, and you're clearly right about our dire condition? Line 3 shows that we'll run out of absolute dollars to cut...period...long before the debt is actually reduced if the ceiling isn't raised. Just servicing interest... It's a monster that could have been managed at lower levels but now? Well, raising the ceiling just makes the end come slower, is all. Doom in technicolor. Indeed.

(The premise of trying to project decades out to come up with even worse numbers is what I found odd in the source article behind the BB one)

Havn't you heard?

They just fire up the printing presses and problem solved

It doesn't really matter anymore neo. I dont think "they" (congress) plan on paying it back. They sure dont seem too concerned, do they?

Well, when I did research on this, I found it was about sixty trillion. This amount includes contracts they are obligated to, bills that are hidden, and countersigning of loans. It is not all debt, some of this is money that is included in future budgets for stuff they ordered in say over five or more years. Some is obligations to states for projects yet to be done.

The amount presently owed, on the books we see, is about seventeen trillion, the rest is obligations and guarantees. If you include all the debt, that which is hidden, it will possibly go up another ten trillion. When Obama took over, the government actually added in debt that was hidden for some strange reason, I guess keeping it hidden any longer was not possible. I think that boosted the debt by a couple of trillion. I still think there is another ten trillion left to add to the debt, I doubt if the government would have wanted to shock everyone that much to expose more than what they did.

No worry, we can't possibly pay it. Why worry about the mess the screwed up congress did with the money when it is not going to ever get paid off. They can just recall the money and everything from then on will be done electronically, that way there will be no way anyone can get paid without a record and paying taxes. This countries monetary system is all messed up, the government isn't even worrying about counterfitters anymore unless it is more than a billion bucks a year.

reply to post by neo96


That's a low number. The GAO put the total on unfunded liabilities at close to 90 trillion.

But were splitting hairs at this point, even at 70 trillion there isn't enough money on the planet to pay it off.

We must never forget....

Every single financial crisis in world history has always been caused by the most educated and professional people.

All accountants and lawyers are certified

The guy walking on the same sidewalk as everybody else everyday doesn't cause these things.

Whatz da poblem ?

If the US didn't mind losing all financial credibility they could inflate the economy the way Germany did after WW1.
If everything including tax revenues and entitlements are inflated simultaneously only prior debts are diminished.

It appears the US government preferred that homeowners clear a huge amount of private debt through instruments like foreclosure and bankruptcy instead.

Now after 7 years of purging private debt through those forced austerity measures maybe a little inflation might even be prudent?

Seems all we hear in the news lately is talk of the end of quantitative easing and more tightening ahead by the Fed.
Is the recent Detroit default a model for the future of the United States?

reply to post by neo96

They are cooking the books they should lay it all out there on the table.

American finances are ROYALLY screwed up.

Everyone is cooking the books. They can do something no one else can do and something that has never been done globally, not even Rome could do it, even though she tried.

Create money. Monopoly money we think is real.

Unless you can relocate to South America, Africa, or the Middle East (basically anywhere that doesn't have the IMF or it's tentacles) then your in some trouble.