Real 2011 US Deficit: $5 Trillion

If this analysis is correct, then the country piled up more debt in one year under Obama than his predecessor piled up in eight.

[T]he government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.

A U.S. household’s median income is $49,445, the Census reports.

The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.

The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government’s books.

“By law, the federal government can’t tell the truth,” says accountant Sheila Weinberg of the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in Accounting.

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Social Security obligations lead the way toward our national insolvency.

What does all this mean? See: Bill Paxton, Aliens, YouTube. At least, as long as we have a president who refuses to be serious about his job.

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