The Cost of the Last Seven Years: $32 Trillion

[Lemur]

Yup, that's trillion with a "t." The GAO has a new report on the drunken spending orgy we call our government. Most sobering element:

In a speech today at the National Press Club, he said, "If the federal government was a private corporation and the same report came out this morning, our stock would be dropping and there would be talk about whether the company's management and directors needed a major shake-up." Walker urged greater transparency and accountability over the federal government's operations, financial condition, and fiscal outlook...

"The federal government's fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000," Walker said. "This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household."

[Xiahou]

Most of that's entitlements, Im guessing?

[Lemur]

There's a decent breakdown on page 5 of the PDF report. Having a hard time grabbing a screenie, sorry. What's interesting is that Social Security only rises slightly, while Medicaid and Mecidare rise rapidly. The big killer, if you believe these numbers, is Net Interest.

I'll have to read the report in detail when I find the time. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with the wife recently:

Me: [General grousing about the government's debt.]
Her: Didn't we take care of the deficit under Clinton?
Me: Imagine you've been using a credit card for a hundred years. And you have never, ever paid down the principle. Now you manage to make one payment on it, and then proceed to spend on it without making any payments for the next ten years. That's where we're at.

[Xiahou]

There's a decent breakdown on page 5 of the PDF report. Having a hard time grabbing a screenie, sorry. What's interesting is that Social Security only rises slightly, while Medicaid and Mecidare rise rapidly. The big killer, if you believe these numbers, is Net Interest.

Yup, Medicare/Medicaid is the big budget killer, Social Security is next. And we have yet to have any politician talk seriously about fixing either. Forget about pork barrel spending- yeah, it's offensive but it's completely insignificant compared to the big entitlements.

As an aside, which party is it that "trades on fear" every time the topic of Social Security reform is brought up?

[Lemur]

Oh, I know it. The Dems are useless when it comes to entitlements. But which party introduced a whole new class of medical entitlements in the last decade?

At least when the Dems try to introduce or expand entitlements, they have demagogues to howl them down. What scares me about Republicans is that when they want to rob the cookie jar, nobody bats an eye.

[Xiahou]

Oh, I know it. The Dems are useless when it comes to entitlements. But which party introduced a whole new class of medical entitlements in the last decade?

Worse than useless. If they were just useless, at least they wouldn't stand in the way. Privatize Social Security? Oh noes, you want to steal the fillings out of grandma's mouth! Ignore the fact that any changes wouldn't even affect her. And then when asked what they would do- you get a range of responses from "nothing" to "raise taxes".

At least when the Dems try to introduce or expand entitlements, they have demagogues to howl them down. What scares me about Republicans is that when they want to rob the cookie jar, nobody bats an eye.

Well, I was opposed to it Lemur.... pity no one listened.

[Vladimir]

At least when the Dems try to introduce or expand entitlements, they have demagogues to howl them down. What scares me about Republicans is that when they want to rob the cookie jar, nobody bats an eye.

Are you serious? That's one reason why they lost the majority.

What burns me (and "us") is that the Republicans are hypocrites. We expect it from Democrats.