Monday, December 31, 2012

Beyond The Cliff...The Abyss?

Mort Zuckerman, writing for the U.S. News has this to say about the huge financial problem of unfunded debt facing America. Zuckerman says  that this problem dwarfs the fiscal cliff as an economic disaster.

A key quote from the piece:

"The greatest fiscal challenge to the U.S. government is not just its annual deficit but its total liabilities. Our federal balance sheet does not include the unfunded social insurance obligations of Medicare, Social Security, and the future retirement benefits of federal employees. Only in the small print of the financial statements do you get some idea of the enormous size of the unfunded commitments. Today the estimated unfunded total is more than $87 trillion, or 550 percent of our GDP. And the debt per household is more than 10 times the median family income."

As Glenn Reynolds (the Instapundit) likes to say:

"Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debts that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be. Make your plans accordingly."

I am.

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