Guess What Else Is Worse Than We Were Told?

By Number Six

Friday, September 08, 2006 at 07:31 PM

Come on, take a guess. A hint, it's really, really, really, really BIG. It's about money...

Why, it's the national debt! And it's megaworse than we were told it was! From Buzzflash:

The true national debt is $49 trillion, not the $8.3 trillion Bush reported
That's $156,000 for every citizen, or $375,000 for every working American
This figure has more than doubled in the past five years
We paid $327 billion last year on interest alone
The true 2005 deficit was $760 billion, not the $318.5 billion Bush reported
This is 6.2% of the GDP, not 2.6%
It's all getting worse

Well, come on now, of course it's getting worse. Lesee...no decent jobs that pay decently...means less tax base...means we have to borrow out the tail rotor....yeah, it does make sense!

What accounts for the huge discrepancy? Unlike businesses, the government uses "cash" instead of "accrual" accounting. This means that the government does not report future spending promises like Medicare and Social Security, or even future spending guarantees like veterans' benefits and federal employee pensions.

Or begging every 20 minutes for mo' money, mo' money, mo' money for Operation Iraqi Annexation, one might add, and what's the take on that lately? A few billion a MONTH?!

Rep Jim Cooper is behind an effort to get this word out, and hopefully, before the fall election. Gee, why would he do that? To embarrass Rethugs? The same party that touts "fiscal responsibility" all the time? Why, they wouldn't be attempting to spend America into Chapter 11, now, would they?

49 trillion in red ink. Raygun would've been so proud!