Just how bad are America’s Social Security and Medicare programs?

Millions of Americans trust their government. Frankly, they’re nuts. But that said, they trust their government when it claims Social Security and Medicare are solvent until the 2030’s. In this modern age of blatant lies from every corner, party and agency of government, this one is really a much bigger whopper than people know.

Anyone can go to the myriad of government websites and pull numbers like payroll deduction rates, assumed interest growth of the SSI and Medicare Trust Funds, and adjustments for inflation, etc. It’s somewhat complicated, but doesn’t take a trained accountant to see some really obvious and dangerous lies being spread.

In the 1980’s, the programs were ‘reformed’. I say that word cautiously, because government rarely actually reforms anything, but let’s call the changes in the spirit of making the programs sustainable.

Payroll deduction rates were altered to create big surpluses in both programs in the early years. Those surpluses were to be placed in interest-bearing accounts called Trust Funds (remember you can't trust government) so when the Baby Boom generation started to retire, this extra fund would be available to cover the excessive benefit distributions.

That’s where it all goes bad.

The same government that uses the word ‘reform’, then did something so incredible, it’s remarkable that revolution hasn’t already occurred. 

Instead of putting surplus revenues for Social Security into interest-bearing accounts outside the government, they were lent to the Treasury and spent. Well over $2 trillion to date. 

Yes, spent to reduce annual deficits on government completely unrelated to Social Security or Medicare. 

To make matter worse, the Treasury claimed they would pay interest on that borrowing, as you’d expect. But the consequences are quite staggering.

As a result, an American couple, who at age 25 in 1990 started jobs with a combined income of $25,000, under current trends will see their combined income grow to over $200,000 by the time they’re ready to retire in 2030; when they start collecting Social Security and receiving Medicare benefits. But what of their accounts and their contributions versus future estimated benefits?

Looking at a study by the Urban Institute in 2013, it is estimated they will receive in excess of $1.35 million in benefits during the remainder of their lifetimes (2013 dollars). Unfortunately, the study also suggests they will have contributed only about $1 million towards that end (also 2013 dollars). This is not good news. They are already short. But it gets much worse. Why?

It’s the little problem with the government taking their money and spending it immediately on benefits for others, or on reducing the deficit. While our couple lost the ability to invest it themselves and earn a return on the money, because the government took it and spent it, these Ponzi schemes, never really invested any real money to grow the trust fund. In fact, the trust funds are empty and have always been empty. The growth, as well as the principle amount, was all on paper and the government owes 100% of the principle and interest to itself.

So how bad is it. Well, that same couple with an account of about $1 million at age 65, contributed only about half of it themselves. The rest was the assumed compounded interest on the dollars the government never invested in such a way to earn any interest. The couple is credited for the growth because it’s only fair to do it since they could have invested it themselves for retirement. But the government spent it the moment they got it, so it actually didn’t grow a penny.

In fact, while the government guarantees a rate of return on all the money it borrows, it never actually has any money to invest anywhere to see real growth. Everything the Federal Government spends on, is done so with current revenue, borrowing, or now, with the Federal Reserve simply 'inventing' the money they need digitally.

Our couple retiring at 65 will receive $1.35 million in benefits over the remainder of their lives. They contributed about $500,000 (2013 dollars)  over their working lives to cover that benefit. Government spent their contribution without earning a penny on it. So where will the $835,000 of unfunded benefits in today's dollars come from? Well, the same place the $17 trillion deficit and other $100 trillion of unfunded obligations will come from. And yes, the same place that will cover ObamaCare and Medicaid’s explosive costs. 

Yes, your kids, my kids and all their kids will pay for it, one way or the other.

Assuming, of course, they survive the economic collapse we’ve planned for them.

Republicans and Their Faulty Moral Arithmetic - Comments

Sometimes you read something so absurd, you just have to comment on it. Today it is a column in the Wall Street Journal by Arthur Brooks titled, "Republicans and Their Faulty Moral Arithmetic". In it, Brooks argues that the GOP has ceded the issue of 'caring' to Progressive Democrats. The fact is he couldn't be more wrong. He is correct that perception is political reality, but only because many Americans have become incapable of understanding what's good for them.

Brooks states, "If Republicans and conservatives double down on the promotion of economic growth, job creation and traditional values, Americans might turn away from softheaded concerns about 'caring.' Right? Wrong."

As the cornerstone of his opinion piece, this one presumption exposes the flaw in his suggestion that these issues are somehow counter to his definition of caring. He couldn't be more wrong.

If caring is defined by the current Marxist Progressive standard, it means taking money from those who earn it, and redistributing it to those who can't or won't earn their own. This 'caring' is nothing of the kind. It is no more in the interests of the recipient than the concern the drug dealer has when selling his drugs to that addict. This Progressive form of caring is no less destructive either, as it destroys incentive, pride and self-reliance.

Republican promotion of economic growth, job creation and traditional values is the type of caring that every American needs, including the tens of millions the Progressive Democrat have ruined with giveaways and expectation of something for nothing. At issue today is the question why tens of millions of Americans can't recognize that they're being bought and made addicts to a dependency on government? There are many reasons, from ruined public schools, sick lessons from mainstream media, and the poison of collectivism and union protection of those who deserve no protection in the workplace. But all of these reasons all have something in common too. Yes, Marxist Progressivism is the root cause of them too.

Caring is not defined by government's ability to extort the worth of one American to buy the support of another. Caring is defined by doing what is in the best interest of that needy American, even if the lesson is hard and it demands work from those who'd rather sell their vote for a handout.

Mr. Brooks should be ashamed that he's succumbed to this destructive thinking. Caring is not defined by perceptions. It is defined in the improving health of a society by instilling the best values and work ethic. By this definition, America hasn't been this sick in a very long time. Measuring success by the growth of welfare programs, such as Food Stamps, is about as wrong as it can get.

Also with this standard, it is crystal clear that Marxist Progressivism does the opposite, and it does it by design. Dependency on government is at the foundations of Marxist Progressivism, and perceptions aside, the total opposite of 'caring'.

The 2011 Budget 'Deal'

Democrats knew they couldn't defend their budget spending while they controlled Congress, so they simply didn't try to adopt a 2011 Budget. No, they left that as a trap for the Republicans to fall into, and it worked. It wreaked of Chicago style politics, via Rahm Emanuel.

It may already be too late, but until 2013, Republicans will never have more support than they had to turn this Titanic around than they did before this deal. We currently live in a nation being governed by an administration through regulations. The GOP only has so many options to bring Obama to the table and share governing with Congress until 2013. This 2011 budget battle was the first and best opportunity for the GOP to be 'significant'.

This was not a GOP victory. It was perhaps a small political victory, but in the fight to derail the Marxist/Progressive train, it was a huge defeat. $38.8 Billion in cuts while facing a $1.5 trillion deficit is nothing. In fact, far worse than nothing, because it blesses the abuses of the taxpayers that Democrats perpetrated to get us to this point in our history. Do people already forget the Democrats' $787 Billion pork-laden, pro-government Stimulus Bill? These cuts don't even equal 5% of that outrage.

No, the GOP had their best opportunity to stop this madness last night, until they started looking at media polls and started worrying about their next campaigns.

The risks this nation faces are as large as those faced in our greatest wars. Yet wars are lost if a nation cannot find the heroes to put it all on the line to be victorious. We needed heroes to not just win a small battle, but to turn the war around against the Progressive left. We now see there are still no heroes we can count on.

Fighting the increases in the Debt Ceiling? Not a chance there. Cutting trillions over 10 years in the 2012 budget? Why should we think the GOP will be any more courageous than what we've just witnessed?

Really stopping taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, NPR, and hundreds of other wasteful programs? No, last night's deal is not a win. And it certainly is NOT a good sign of future courage by GOP leaders.

We are worried about 'the cow' when it is all about the 'Ice Cream'

From a teacher in the Nashville area - or maybe not. Regardless, a valid analysis of voters who put Obama into the White House.

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The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year...

The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees.. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.

We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.

We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.

I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches.

Jamie went first.

He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.

Everyone applauded and he sat down.

Now it was Olivia's turn to speak.

Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down.

The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."

She surely would say more. She did not have to.

A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure.

Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it... She didn't know.

The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream...

Jamie was forgotten.. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52 percent of the people reacted like nine year olds.

They want ice cream.

The other 48 percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess."

This is the ice cream Obama promised us!

Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone -- that they have not first taken away from someone else.

Did you vote for the ice cream?

America's Last Chance

In a sense I'm thankful for Obama. The drip-drip of Progressivism has taken its toll on America for a hundred years, changing education, history, values and beliefs in such a way that the very foundation of America has nearly crumbled. Even with McCain, that movement to the left was going to continue, and millions of Americans would have remained asleep to the 'fundamental transformation' of America long underway.

Obama has opened the floodgates on radical Socialism based on Marxism. His administration has taken corporate influence to new levels, and ethical behavior is unwelcome now anywhere in government. People are awake. Those who don't see that dangers of Progressivism today will likely never see it, or they've become so dependent on the system that they feel no choice but to continue to support it. But I'm warning you, that's a choice that will lead to the eventual ruin for every American and our progeny for decades and decades.

The question is whether enough people have been awakened to end this nightmare? Or should I say, end the nightmare of certain economic collapse? Returning sanity to Govt - and I will be the first to say that putting Republicans back into power is certainly not a guarantee - is but the first step in what's going to be a very painful series of steps if we are going to save America. Are we up to the sacrifices that we must accept if we're to preserve a nation for our children and grandchildren? Are we prepared to abandon unsustainable bribes we call public pensions, social security, Medicare & Medicaid that are operating in the RED today? We won't have that answer after election day in November. That answer will come months and years later, when Americans will prove whether we're capable of saving ourselves, or whether we're destined to starve the nation to death with our self-interest. Can we put the futures of our children and grandchildren ahead of what we believe will be comfortable retirements?

WILL WE SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO EXTEND THE FANTASY THAT WE CAN BE CARED FOR AFTER WE RETIRE FOR DECADES?

When I watched Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally I regained some hope. But what did I see but people arguing for cuts to spending and taxes. I didn't see people who necessarily understood the consequences in a society where government has addicted EVERYONE to some level of government largess.

Then I watched coverage of the One Nation Rally, with its Communists, unions and assorted leftists demanding 'well-paying jobs' despite the reality that poorly-educated Americans have either earned well-paying jobs, or are even capable of competing in the Global Economy against people who are better educated, aren't unionized, and work for a fraction of less-educated Americans.

November is not the end of this awakening. It's barely the beginning. If the GOP takes either House of Congress, or even both, they will not be in a position to implement or repeal anything Obama refuses to sign. They won't have the votes to override Obama vetoes. That means that Obama can govern by Executive Order and Congress won't even have the ability to stop him without enough Dems supporting efforts to override presidential vetoes.

The only tool the GOP will have is to refuse to appropriate funds. With that will come accusations from the Democrats and their tools in the mainstream media that the GOP 'wants to shut down the government and starve Americans'. And with that will come the calls for the GOP to protect all those Americans dependent on a check from the government. Will the GOP be able to sustain such an effort to reduce spending and reform bankrupt federal programs? With Dems and MSM attacking them, it's unlikely. So where will Americans stand?

The real awakening will come when Americans fully understand the cost of saving America from a century of unsustainable redistribution of wealth and empty promises. If Americans are prepared to return to self-reliance once those costs are made clear, America may have a chance. If self-interest and refusal to drastically cut the size and scope of government is the response, then November will be little more than a blip on the path to fiscal collapse and something much, much darker to follow.

I hope we're still a people up to the greatness our Founders demonstrated when they invented America. Because if we're not, we have no more chances.

Chickens come home to roost

Quadrant homeowners headed to Supreme Court in 'toxic soup' case

Quadrant builds them fast and builds them to maximize profit. They grease the skids of local governments with allies in both parties, and the strategy made them the biggest home builder in the state. You buy one of their homes, you get what you pay for. Ok, maybe a lot less than what you paid for.

Crime Inc.

Unless you watch Glenn Beck or read this article from Investors Business Daily, there's another incredible scandal brewing involving all the regular players. It starts with an unknown organization called the Joyce Foundation that funds the George Soros Tides Foundation, that has provided cover for leftists to contribute to leftist causes with anonymity.

Beck has uncovered a massive conspiracy involving Obama, Jarrett, the Joyce Foundation, Goldman Sachs and several of its executives independently, Al Gore, and a myriad of radicals that are behind the Chicago Carbon Exchange. This $10 Trillion a year redistribution scheme trading an invisible gas involves Franklin Raines who made $90 million at Fannie Mae over just 5 years as its president, and who was found to have corrupted Fannie's books to even further expose the taxpayer to risk in purchasing trillions in bad mortgage loans that could have been halted in 2002 if regulation hadn't been blocked by the Dems in the Senate.

While at Fannie Mae, Raines purchased software for managing the trading of CO2 in the Carbon Exchange (CCX). The exchange would basically require American industry, and ultimately the consumer, to buy CO2 credits from nations with little or no industry. Effectively a massive wealth redistribution scheme with the players involved cyphoning off billions for themselves.

No one apparently asked why Fannie Mae needed such software and why the taxpayer ultimately purchased it for this Government Sponsored Enterprise, but with sponsorship from the WH's Obama and Valerie Jarrett, Al Gore owns 1/5th of the CCX along with two Goldman Sachs executives. Goldman bought 10% of the CCX later for just $21 million.

The mastermind behind the entire scheme, or the 'wizard' behind the curtain as Beck says, is a guy by the name of Joel Rogers. This radical Wisconsin college professor has tried to stay out of the limelight, but is one of the true leaders of the radical socialist/marxist progressive movement in America. He's a founder of the New Party, and involved everywhere in the leftist Progressive Movement. His bio here on KeyWiki shows his involvement with socialist initiatives for decades. He's even tied to Richard Cloward, of the Cloward-Piven strategy, and is linked to the most well-known leftists radicals in America.


http://keywiki.org/index.php/Joel_Rogers

This massive ripoff of the American taxpayer/consumer could explain EVERYTHING that is going on. The MSM could be involved for a piece of the action, and the only thing this scheme needs is the Cap & Trade bill to be adopted by the Senate.

With the money that this assault on America would generate, based on the lie of man-made Global Warming, the Dems could buy their way into control for decades.

Of note is the fact that NONE of this came up during the Senate Hearings on Goldman Sachs. I wouldn't doubt that the entire Federal Government has been corrupted by this scheme, that Beck has labelled, "Crime Inc."

Self-Interest is undoing America

I can’t imagine that self-interest has ever driven policy in America as it does today. I’m only 50, so I don’t have those Depression-era experiences or those during World Wars, but could this nation have survived this long if it was always like this?

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I’m learning the history now that was kept out of the classrooms of my youth. I’m seeing the Progressive Movement throughout the last 100 years of American history, with people from within both parties who’ve led this nation into electing a radically Progressive president in Barack Obama. But Obama could not be “fundamentally transforming America” if not for the House and Senate that decades of pandering to self-interest has established in Washington DC.

There were times in this nation when even accepting charity was repugnant to Americans. People would sacrifice for their neighbor, or even for a total stranger. What has happened to that American charity? Well, it’s still here, but is being constantly attacked by a growing segment of this nation that has been trained by decades of Progressive education that it is “entitled” to what other’s earn. These people feel empowered at the ballot booth by carpet-baggers from both political parties to demand rights from government at the expense of their fellow citizens, along with “free stuff” that will be paid for with magical pixie dust, but keep them on the Progressive’s leash.

This nation cannot survive this self-interest that ignores the consequences of government largess. Facing bankrupted entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, federal government mandates on the states that cannot be possibly met, and in excess of $100 trillion in unfunded federal government obligations, the question is not when the coming financial collapse will occur, but how devastating it will be.

It does not have to be this way. But it will happen unless Americans can rid this society of the radicals, Marxists, and corrupt who are driving America to this one and only outcome. It begins with all Americans measuring their self-interest against the needs of this nation, and abandoning this Progressive theology that suggests that people can be given everything they need in life for free, and that no one is responsible for the decisions they’ve made in their lives, or the consequences of what they perceive as their own bad luck.

Self-interest should end at the walls of your home, and not in the pockets of your neighbors.

Final chapter closed on this King County corruption - too bad it was never blown open and investigated

Two King County DOT whistle blowers have won their Federal Lawsuit this week against several of King County Executive Ron Sims' managers in DOT. They were accused of retaliating against them, because they attempted to expose corruption and wrongdoing in DOT 7 years ago.

In 2002, King County DOT was requested to grant a Transportation Concurrency Certificate to Quadrant Homes for a development named Redmond Ridge East. This came after years of investigation into wrongdoing by DOT under Ron Sims for other development projects named Redmond Ridge and Trilogy. With no vehicle capacity left on area roads, primarily Novelty Hill Road, that certificate was initially denied. But just weeks later, without any explanation or justification, KCDOT reversed their decision and invented road capacity out of thin air for Quadrant.

After that decision, five King County DOT employees, including the supervisor of the TFDM group, which was responsible for building the county's road traffic model, said no way. They went through their management, then through the Ombudsman, and even to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office alleging wrongdoing, including illegal acts being committed in KCDOT's Concurrency Group to assist Quadrant in obtaining a certificate wrongfully.

Not long afterward the alleged retaliation began by DOT Director Linda Dougherty and manager Jennifer Lindwall. First poor performance reviews, then threats of layoff, and finally, demotion for the supervisor and significant reduction in pay.

The development would eventually receive a recommendation to deny from King County Hearing Examiner Stafford Smith, and a recommendation to rescind the ill-gotten Transportation Concurrency Certificate. Remarkably, the King County Council approved Redmond Ridge East in 2005 anyway.

Now 4 years later and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the plaintiff's legal fees, a jury has determined that the defendants Linda Dougherty and Jennifer Lindwall did retaliate against Ho-Chuan Chen and Hossein Barahimi.

The awards in the case are trivial. Perhaps because US District Court Judge Marcia Pechman ruled against allowing any issues related to the Redmond Ridge East corruption to be heard by the jury. Remarkably, Pechman, then a King County Superior Court judge, ruled on the very first challenge to Redmond Ridge and Trilogy, ruling with the county and developer in a case that would eventually take years to be overturned by the State Supreme Court, only to have the Supreme Court unanimously rule in 2005 to allow an ancient illegal act by the county in 1989, that the courts refused to address, finally excuse a decade of county wrongdoing under Executive Gary Locke and Executive Ron Sims.

Will Douherty, Lindwall and Sue Osterhoubt (also sued by Barahimi in 2007 and found guilty of retaliation) be fired for misusing their office and punishing employees for attempting to expose corruption and wrongdoing in DOT? Not likely. This is the way King County has operated under Ron Sims, and I'm sure their guilt will be ignored by Sims for what turned out to be "his" greater good.

Will Ho-Chuan Chen be restored to the position he previously held so that he can return to the road modeling group to be a much-needed watchdog of the shenanigans that go on regularly in KCDOT, since NO ONE has been there to stop the county's endless efforts to assist developers in avoiding road impact fees and other mitigation?

Will anyone now demand that these individuals, along with their boss Executive Ron Sims, be required to reimburse King County the millions of dollars spent on their defense funded by King County taxpayers, as well as the damages to be paid to Chen and Barahimi, including all of the plaintiff's legal costs?

This lawsuit closes the chapter on this sickening corruption that has left taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded infrastructure. And with a media that has all but ignored it, and citizen opponents who have surrendered to the corruption in this county, Ron Sims can now be congratulated on his promotion to the Obama administration where he can take this stench with him.

Finally, I'd like to personally thank Ho-Chuan Chen and Hossein Barahimi for doing the right thing. Their integrity and honesty will never be rewarded as it should, but they can stand up with pride and know that while they may be surrounded by corrupt individuals in their employment, that they have the respect of the few of us out here that understand the courage it took for them to stand up to Ron Sims and his puppets in King County leadership.

Here's more background from the PI:
Redmond Ridge East hits roadblock over 'tainted' traffic study

And here is Dori Monson's interview on 4/13 with Chen and Barahimi (Starts at 5 minutes):
Monson Show

Tyranny of the Majority

Alexis de Tocqueville was a famous political and cultural writer about American democracy in the 1830s. Among his writings about Democracy in 1835, were the warnings of the "tyranny of the majority" leading to a despotic government. De Tocqueville wrote, "A majority taken collectively is only an individual, whose opinions, and frequently whose interests, are opposed to those of another individual, who is styled a minority." As such, when a majority is given the power to control the entire government apparatus, the ability of the minority to participate in the government, or even to influence the majority, can be easily ignored by the majority, at the doom of the nation.

I believe that the prophecy of the tyranny of the majority that de Tocqueville described over a century and a half ago has begun, with only members of the Democrat Party, yes, the party in power, now able to defend America from the outcome de Tocqueville warned of.

De Tocqueville wrote:

"If republican principles are to perish in America, they can yield only after a laborious social process, often interrupted and as often resumed, they will have many apparent revivals and will not become totally extinct until an entirely new people have succeeded to those who now exist. If it be admitted that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should not a majority be liable to the same reproach? Men do not change their characters by uniting with one another; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with their strength. For my own part, I cannot believe it; the power to do everything, which I should refuse to one of my equals, I will never grant to any number of them."

"It is my opinion, however, that by changing their administrative forms as often as they do, the inhabitants of the United States compromise the stability of their government. It may be apprehended that men perpetually thwarted in their designs by the mutability of legislation will learn to look on the republic as an inconvenient form of society, the evil resulting from the instability of the secondary enactments might then raise a doubt as to the nature of the fundamental principles of the Constitution and indirectly bring about a revolution; but this epoch is still very remote."

"It may be foreseen even now that when the Americans lose their republican institutions they will speedily arrive at a despotic government."

Progressive social changes that would alter our basic American principles and values of liberty, freedom and individual pursuit of success? Only a remote possibility of our republic succumbing to those who would ignore or destroy the Constitution? America falling into the grips of a despotic government, where we fall under a despotic majority acting in unison against the principles this nation was founded upon?

174 years after de Tocqueville wrote the words, we're here folks.

Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville

Housing collapse nowhere near done yet!

There's a great graph that the New York Times had done reflecting home values adjusted for inflation going back 100 years. It shows the booms and the busts, such as the 35% loss of home values in the Great Depression, as well as the booms in 1970s and 1980s. The one constant is that home prices always return to about 110% of historical norm.

Home Values thru 2006

The current credit bubble and housing boom started with a steep increase in home values in 1997, not long after government loosening of credit and the fed pressures to lower interest rates. Starting in 1997, homes increased from 110% of historical value to about 205% of value in 2006. Then the bubble started to burst. Since 2006, values have dropped 40% (value loss plus inflation loss) to about 155% of the historical norm. See the curve now:

Home Values thru Today

The downward slope of the curve is very steep right now and could do one of three things. It could start to level out, continue to plummet to the norm, or in the case of entering a depression, values drop well below the historical norm before it bottoms out. Home values across America are losing about 1% of value a month, on top of the value being lost due to inflation that is beginning to increase rapidly.

If you are hoping things will turn around soon and are making financial decisions based on that hope, this is information you need to be aware of.

Obama deficit to equal 2000 federal budget

From the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Briefing Book

Obama budget to increase spending up from $2.983 Trillion under Bush to $3.938 Trillion this fiscal year. Will decline to $3.552 Trillion next fiscal year, down $714 Billion, but stimulus new spending remains! Obama budget forecast to increase to $3.856 Trillion by end of first term. That is a 29% increase in size of government, assuming no additional spending.

TOTAL federal spending in 2000 was $1.79 trillion.

Total estimated 2009 DEFICIT according to Obama’s budget blueprint will be $1.75 trillion.

How much trouble are Social Security and Medicare really in?

You won't believe it, but it's all here at
OASDI and HI Annual Income Excluding Interest, Cost, and Balance in Current Dollars

According to the Government, they look at three different scenarios based on cost trends. "OASDI" is Social Security, and "HI" in Medicare Part A. Medicare Part D, Prescription drugs, isn't even included here.

So here are some hard facts that you're not being told. You could call this the real crisis behind the crisis.

Under the estimates from the Social Security Administration done last year, Medicare is today already spending more than it is taking in. Social Security, under the "intermediate" estimate of costs, will be in the red in 2017, and the combined programs will be underfunded as early as 2015.

Under the worst-case scenario of high costs (and I have to wonder whether recession or depression will hasten us in this direction), these programs will be underfunded as soon as 2011. In fact, under this scenario, less than $50 billion in surpluses are left before SSI, that surplus-maker that has provided more than $2 trillion to the Treasury to fund other government programs and reduce deficits, will itself be in the red.

What happens when Social Security and Medicare require additional funds to make payments? Do we just fire up more printing presses? Does China continue to lend us the money to grow our debt?

But here is the real frightening point, if it can be scarier. The government appears to use the Low Cost scenario when they estimate our unfunded obligations out the next 75 years. As if $54 trillion doesn't sound bad enough out through 2085, how does $414 trillion sound in the Intermediate Cost scenario?

Oh, you're not worried enough yet? The high cost scenario shows a shortfall in unfunded obligations of.... wait for it.... $1.1 QUADRILLION (thousands of trillions) out to 2085.

Now every time reform of Social Security and Medicare have come up, which political party has absolutely refused to address it? But if reforming Social Security or Medicare is the 3rd rail of politics, then is it already too late to save ourselves from ourselves?

The United States is Bankrupt!

Jerome R. Corsi of WorldnetDaily did an article entitled, "Federal obligations exceed world GDP - Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?. This article describes the absolute reality of collapse of the American government. I can't say anymore about it, but you can read the article, and then review the 2008 Financial Report of the United States provided by the US Treasury.

The table below is extracted directly from the US Treasury Report looking out the infinite horizon. Look down at the lower-right total obligation for Social Security, Medicare, and Disability Insurance. Yes, that reads $101.9 TRILLION more in outlays than projected revenues.


The table below shows where we stand right now, looking out only 75 years, but including all federal government obligations, including social program entitlements from the table above. Yes, you're seeing $65.5 TRILLION dollars (the amount of money we're going to need in current dollars, added to the expected revenues for the next 75 years, to cover the federal obligation for all the promises our government has made for the next 75 years.)


Below is the link to the report from ShadowStats.com, as referenced in the Corsi article. You can read the US Government's dirty little secret for yourself.
December 2008 - GAAP-Based 2008 Federal Deficit

Perhaps this explains why the Democrats appear to have lost all sense of responsibility? I mean, after all, why bother to be fiscally responsible when the fuse is lit and it can't be extinguished? Republicans have engaged - again - and are fighting to stop the waste and the acceleration to our collapse, but are they doing it because they think they can stop it, or simply so they will have some power before things come crashing down around us all?

Have the Chinese and other foreign investors in America's debt figured out what is happening? What can they do? If they stop throwing good money after bad it will only hasten the destruction of the world economy and civilization as we know it. But if they keep throwing money into our spending insanity, don't they only prolong the agony and worsen the collapse?

China announced last week its intention to continue to buy US Treasury bonds even though it knows the dollar will depreciate because such investments remain its "only option" in a perilous world. But is this "only option" a decision based on confidence in the dollar, or a decision driven by desperation to keep the global economy from collapsing?

Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, speaking at the Global Association of Risk Management’s 10th Annual Risk Management Convention, said: "We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion - $2 trillion . . . we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do."

God help us all.

Stimulus? The rape is complete

Too late to fight it. Not enough time to read it. Every single senate Democrat and all but 7 Democrats in the House voted for it. 90 minutes of debate and the taxpayer is now on the hook for $787 Billion to grow government and give government more control. Boy, we're glad they pushed it through with less than a day for anyone to see it, so Pelosi could head off to the Vatican. Without a single member of Congress physically capable of reading the final bill, and even with the help of three Republicans who couldn't possibly of read the bill, it is now law.

Susan Collins (Republican - Maine)
Olympia Snowe (Republican - Maine)
Arlen Specter (Republican - Pennsylvania)

I hope that when the history of this crossroads is written about, and hopefully by historians living in an America that still exists, that the part these three played in this betrayal of all Americans is noted with all the disdain and disgust that every other Democrat will have earned who blindly supported this railroading of the American people.

What is a political party that allows those within its ranks to so willfully spit on the principles and responsibilities of the people they are elected to represent?

At least we know what to expect from the 21st century Democrat. But what these three have helped to orchestrate is beyond forgiveness.