Two days before the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, and one week before the “supercommittee” is supposed to propose a bill to reduce future deficits by at least $1.2 trillion, the national debt passed the $15 trillion mark.
In addition to the over $15 trillion in current debt, the federal government has over $116 trillion in unfunded liabilities, according to USDebtClock.org. Unfunded liabilities are obligations that the federal government has committed to paying, but will not have the revenue to pay for. They are Social Security, Medicare and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which are funded through payroll taxes.
The U.S. has over 312,000,000 people and over 112,000,000 taxpayers. This means the total debt per taxpayer is over $133,000 and total liability per taxpayer is over $1 million.
In the 2011 fiscal year, total government revenues were about $2.3 trillion and total government spending was about $3.6 trillion, thus adding $1.3 trillion to the national debt. The interest paid on the debt in 2011 was about $266 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Under current policy, interest payments, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will consume 100 percent of government revenue in 2025, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform estimates.
To get a feel for these numbers, it helps to chop off eight of the zeros and imagine the equivalent for a family budget. Let us call this family the Jones.
Source: Christian Post | Napp Nazworth
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