We're broke!

Yep, the United States, by any accounting measure, is technically broke. But that isn't stopping politicians in Washington from wanting to spend more!

From the National Center for Policy Analysis:

WE BROKE THE BANK!
The United States is functionally bankrupt, says Mike Whalen, founder, president and chief executive officer of Heart of America Restaurants and Inns and the policy chairman at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Let's look at the simple numbers of our national debt. Our on-the-books national debt is $11.6 trillion, but off-the-books federal debt, including Medicare and Social Security, is $107 trillion:

* This is the amount we should have in the bank, according to the federal government's own accountants, to pay for our current promises to our retirees and future retirees.
* This doesn't include unfunded obligations that we have to the pensions and benefits promised to federal workers and veterans.
* Nor does it include huge unfunded pension and benefit obligations for other public employees at levels below the federal government.

Let's just add the $11 trillion to the $107 trillion, and we get $118 trillion:

* Now our total annual national output, or gross domestic product (GDP), is about $14.3 trillion.
* Total federal receipts, or income if stated in business terms, are about $2.5 trillion.
* This means that our debt to federal income ratio is about 47, and that ratio assumes that the federal revenues are free to retire the obligations, which they are not.

We must pay for defense and a myriad of other programs. Again, in business terms, there is no free cash flow to pay these massive obligations, says Whalen.

Our total national private net worth, according to the Federal Reserve Board, is about $51.5 trillion. That means our federal unfunded liabilities represent 2.3 times our collective net worth. That's pretty darn broke, says Whalen.

Ask any accountant, banker, or anyone remotely familiar with simple accounting knowledge if we can service this debt, and the collective answer is a resounding "no." Any business with these ratios would be a complete basket case, hopelessly bankrupt. Unlike General Motors Corp., there is no one with the wherewithal to bail out the United States, says Whalen.