Being Informed

[4candles]

‘Big lender’ China urges US to avoid bankruptcy

Published time: October 07, 2013 14:30


As the Government shutdown in the US enters its second week, the country is just 10-days away from default, and the country’s main creditor China has urged Washington to take decisive steps to avoid bankruptcy and ensure safety of Chinese investments.

China, the US government's largest foreign creditor, is "naturally concerned about developments in the US fiscal cliff", as Reuters quoted Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao giving the Chinese government's first public response to the Oct 17 US deadline for raising the debt ceiling.

China currently holds 22.85 percent of the US $16.7trln debt, which makes it the biggest US creditor.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew calculated the US would run out of money by October 17 and have less than $30 billion cash in hand if Congress fails to agree on its spending plans.

"We ask that the United States earnestly takes steps to resolve in a timely way before October 17 the political (issues) around the debt ceiling and prevent a US debt default to ensure safety of Chinese investment in the United States and the global economic recovery," Zhu said.

In 2011 a similar budget deadlock cost the US its triple-A rating, with Standard & Poors downgrading the country to AA+.

"We hope the United States fully understands the lessons of history," Zhu said.

The debt ceiling debate of 2011 resolved with a last minute decision following tough warnings over the economic catastrophe from the looming default.

This time around alarm bells are ringing again, with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warning that the budget brinkmanship was "playing with fire" and imploring the Congress to pass legislation to re-open the government as well as increase the nation's debt limit.

The lack of accord in the US Congress could cost the US a default – the first in history - which would send the global economy into a financial crisis similar to 2008 or worse. The 2008 financial crisis plunged the country into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Raising the debt ceiling is vital for the US itself and the global economy, but Republican House Speaker John Boehner insists the increase of the maximum allowed borrowing limit should come with terms. Boehner vowed on Sunday that there was "no way" Republican lawmakers would agree to a measure to raise the debt ceiling unless it included conditions to rein in deficit spending.

“The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit, and the President is risking default by not having a conversation with us,” Boehner said.




Continue Reading...


http://rt.com/business/china-us-default-debt-838/

 

[4candles]

12 Very Ominous Warnings About What A U.S. Debt Default Would Mean For The Global Economy

Copyright: Michael Snyder


A U.S. debt default that lasts for more than a couple of days could potentially cause a financial crash unlike anything that the world has ever seen before. If the U.S. government purposely wanted to damage the global financial system, the best way that they could do that would be to default on U.S. debt obligations. A U.S. debt default would cause stocks to crash, would cause bonds to crash, would cause interest rates to soar wildly out of control, would cause a massive credit crunch, and would cause a derivatives panic that would be absolutely unprecedented. And that would just be for starters. But don’t just take my word for it. These are the things that top financial experts all over the planet are saying will happen if there is an extended U.S. debt default.
Because they are so close together, the “government shutdown” and the “debt ceiling deadline” are being confused by many Americans.

As I wrote about the other day, the “partial government shutdown” that we are experiencing right now is pretty much a non-event. Yeah, some national parks are shut down and some federal workers will have their checks delayed, but it is not the end of the world. In fact, only about 17 percent of the federal government is actually shut down at the moment. This “shutdown” could continue for many more weeks and it would not affect the global economy too much.

On the other hand, if the debt ceiling deadline (approximately October 17th) passes without an agreement that would be extremely dangerous.

And if the U.S. government is eventually forced to start delaying interest payments on U.S. debt (which could potentially happen as soon as November), that would be absolutely catastrophic.

Once again, just don’t take my word for it. The following are 12 very ominous warnings about what a U.S. debt default would mean for the global economy…


#1 Gerald Epstein, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst: “If the US does default, that will make the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy look like a cakewalk”

#2 Tim Bitsberger, a former Treasury official under President George W. Bush: “If we miss an interest payment, that would blow Lehman out of the water”

#3 Peter Tchir, founder of New York-based TF Market Advisors: “Once the system starts to break down related to settlement and payments, then liquidity disappears, as we saw after Lehman”

#4 Bill Isaac, chairman of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp: “We can’t even imagine all the things that might happen, just like Henry Paulson couldn’t imagine all the bad things that might happen if he let Lehman go down”

#5 Jim Grant, founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer: “Financial markets are all confidence-based. If that confidence is shaken, you have disaster.”

#6 Richard Bove, VP of research at Rafferty Capital Markets: “If they seriously default on the debt, what we’re really talking about is a depression”

#7 Chinese vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao: “The U.S. is clearly aware of China’s concerns about the financial stalemate [in Washington] and China’s request for the US to ensure the safety of Chinese investments.”

#8 The U.S. Treasury Department: “A default would be unprecedented and has the potential to be catastrophic: credit markets could freeze, the value of the dollar could plummet, U.S. interest rates could skyrocket, the negative spillovers could reverberate around the world, and there might be a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse”

#9 Goldman Sachs: “We estimate that the fiscal pull-back would amount to 9pc of GDP. If this were allowed to occur, it could lead to a rapid downturn in economic activity if not reversed quickly”

#10 Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the IMF: “It would be insane to default, but it’s no longer a zero-percent probability”

#11 Warren Buffett about the potential of a debt default: “It should be like nuclear bombs, basically too horrible to use”

#12 Bloomberg: “Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is. A U.S. government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling as it now threatens to do, will be an economic calamity like none the world has ever seen.”

A U.S. debt default could be the trigger for the “nightmare scenario” that so many people have been writing about in recent years. In fact, it could greatly accelerate the timetable for the inevitable economic collapse that is coming. A recent Yahoo article described some of the things that we would likely see in the event of an extended U.S. debt default…

A default would upend money markets, destroy bond funds, slam the brakes on lending, cause interest rates to spiral, make our banks insolvent, and deal a blow to our foreign trading partners and creditors around the globe; all of which would throw the U.S. and the world into economic disarray.
And of course stocks would crash big time. Deutsche Bank’s David Bianco believes that if the U.S. government starts missing interest payments on U.S. Treasury bonds, we could see the S&P 500 go down to 850 by the end of the year.


Read Full article at ...


http://rinf.com/alt-news/latest-new...ault-would-mean-for-the-global-economy/76923/

 

[4candles]

Unemployment Plagues Young People Around The World

Infographic by Alissa Scheller for The Huffington Post.



In the French city of Montpellier, Thomas Pallot frets that his future now seems tainted. He is only 25 years old and recently embarked on a career as computer technician. But for the last two years, he has been unemployed.

Pallot has a diploma from an advanced vocational school, a credential that might have once inoculated him from this fate. Today that degree merely places him amid the teeming ranks of a so-called Lost Generation: He is one of millions of young people worldwide who have emerged from college with diplomas only to fall into joblessness and its attendant hardships -- financial trouble, despair and a nebulous sense of having lost their way.

"To grow as a person, you have to have a job," Pallot tells Le Huffington Post, speaking as if this were self-evident. "Before, I talked about my work with the people close to me, and now I have nothing to talk about."

In many countries, youth employment is understood as a pressing domestic issue. But the proper lens is global: From Europe to North America to the Middle East, unemployment among young people has swelled into a veritable epidemic, one that threatens economic growth and social stability in dozens of countries for decades to come. Worldwide, some 75 million workers under age 25 were jobless last year, according to the International Labour Office, an increase of more than 4 million compared to 2007.



Read Complete Article...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/youth-unemployment-worldwide-joblessness_n_4019601.html

 

[4candles]

.

McGrath: “Somebody In Government Is Afraid Of What Is Coming” *Video*


While the average American may have been convinced that the economy is recovering and happy days are dead ahead, few are talking about the reality of what’s going on behind the scenes. They act as if the crisis of 2008 has long passed, and whatever was responsible for it has now been solved through massive trillion dollar bailout injections.

Most fail to realize how serious of an issue we faced just five years ago, and even fewer understand how close we are to a collapse so incredibly horrific that it could change the very landscape of this country.

For those paying attention to the warning signs, it should be clear that something isn’t right.

Charlie McGrath, of Wide Awake News, weighs in and suggests that not only is the next stage of collapse rapidly approaching, but that our government is fully expecting it.

It was sold to the people of this country that bailouts had to happen, because if they did’t happen we would see pandemonium in the streets.


A recent biography by Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of England, showed just how worried he was if the banks shut down – people couldn’t get their food, they couldn’t get their fuel, they couldn’t get their medicine… there would be literally anarchy in the streets.

We know that never happened. We know that the people of the world were scared into that happening, yet we spent trillions of dollars to rescue these institutions, namely the ones who were not regulated in the first place who caused the problem, who are even larger [now] than they were before…

So what happens when the next crisis hits? And it could be very, very soon.

…

If you want to know where we’re going, listen to the words of the President – ‘We’re never going to have another taxpayer supported bailout.‘

I beg to differ. The next bailout is going to come from the taxpayers. We’re not going to call it that. We’re going to call it a bail-in.

All we have to do is look at the Financial Stability Board inside Europe to see what they did and to see the stage that’s been set for the next round of collapse… The people who have their money in the banks are going to be the ones that lose.

This is the agenda going forward.

…

The Associated Press confirmed in February that the Department of Homeland Security has an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. Armored vehicles have been seen flowing through the streets, drones flying through the air, the expansion of the security industrial complex.

For what? For what?

Somebody in government is afraid of what is coming.

And you can’t believe the lies of this administration of the past or the agenda that’s been put forward to have us believe that this is all to protect us against terror.

Somebody knows what is coming… Is it all just coincidence?
(Watch at Youtube)

We know the U.S. government security apparatus has been simulating economic collapse scenarios and the fallout that would follow, and this is why they are actively implementing a multi-billion dollar control grid all over this country.

There can be no other explanation for the activities of the Department of Homeland Security, the military and governments on all levels – from local to federal.

In fact, the US Treasury Department just released a report indicating that the nation’s debt crisis could lead to a collapse so catastrophic that it could last more than a generation. Whether that happens on October 17, 2013, or five years from now, it’s only a matter of time.

We’re talking scenarios much more severe than the Great Depression.

But this isn’t just happening in America. Switzerland recently engaged in war games that simulated an economic collapse scenario, as well as an invasion by bankrupted nations and millions of refugees. In 2011, the British government developed plans to evacuate their citizens from European countries in expectation of monetary and economic crisis.

The exercises and drills may be compartmentalized so that most who are partaking in them don’t really know why, but there are those in the higher echelons of power that know very well what the end game is going to be.

None of this is a coincidence.

If you aren’t taking steps to prepare for a new paradigm – one plagued with destitution, riots, starvation and bloodshed – then you are going to be a victim of what’s coming.

Gordon Brown is right. When the economic system breaks down or the dollar collapses food, fuel, and medicine will be nearly impossible to acquire. The experience of Greeks, who saw this first hand, is a perfect example.

The only option for the government at that point will be to control the looting and violence that follows by declaring Martial Law and locking this country down.


Copyright: SHTF Plan

Link:

http://rinf.com/alt-news/latest-new...ment-is-afraid-of-what-is-coming-video/77658/

 

[4candles]

Warning:
The only reason I am posting this information here, is with the intention that you/we will be aware of the extent of possiblities in case US defaults, whether it happens now or in the immediate future . Do not react and be scared of the consequence that could follow across the rest of the world.
Do not let this info affect your trading/investing Decisions.
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Hyperinflationary Depression – No Way of Avoiding Financial Armageddon

Mac Slavo
December 15th, 2009
SHTFplan.com


If you’ve never heard of or read a report from John Williams, then today is your (un)lucky day. Mr. Williams’, founder of Shadow Stats, is the economic analyst that has brought us the real, unadultered statistics for unemployment (22%) and real GDP (-5.5%) and Inflation (6%).

According to Mr. Williams’ most recent report on the economy, things are not as good as they may seem. In fact, they’re a whole lot worse than what most people can even imagine.

The U.S. economic and systemic solvency crises of the last two years are just precursors to a Great Collapse: a hyperinflationary great depression. Such will reflect a complete collapse in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar, a collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity, a collapse in the U.S. financial system as we know it, and a likely realignment of the U.S. political environment. The current U.S. financial markets, financial system and economy remain highly unstable and vulnerable to unexpected shocks. The Federal Reserve is dedicated to preventing deflation, to debasing the U.S. dollar. The results of those efforts are being seen in tentative selling pressures against the U.S. currency and in the rallying price of gold.

It could not get any more serious than this. If Mr. Williams’ is correct, and his stats and analysis have proven to be right on target thus far, then we are in for what Gerald Celente has said will be like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime.

Looking at each of Mr. William’s points from a worst case scenario perspective, here are some things one can expect.

■Collapse of Purchasing Power
Imagine stock markets initially rising to new highs. While many in the public will truly believe we are in a new boom time, the reality will be that prices on everyday goods will be increasing at a rapid rate. Hyperinflation will not be recognized right away, but eventually the public will catch on. Howard Katz has written that we can expect price increases of 70% within a year or two. Imagine gas at $7 – $8 a gallon, a can of tuna for $3 and your favorite flavored latte for $10. This will be the opening act and primary indicator that the system is getting to a breaking point.
■Collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity
As the purchasing power of the dollar diminishes, foreign creditors and suppliers will become concerned. Even short-term credit extensions for essential goods like food and oil will collapse. If you’ve read about what happened in Iceland in 2008, you’ll have a pretty good idea, except the population needing essential goods is about 1000 times the size of Iceland’s (pop. 300,000). When Iceland’s currency collapsed, the government was unable to purvey basic food goods from international sources because their currency was no longer trusted. Expect to see store inventories slowly (or perhaps quickly) lower, from basic foods to apparel. If the dollar were to go Zimbabwe, then it would be nearly impossible for merchants and suppliers to accurately price goods, leading to daily, perhaps hourly price changes. The effects of this type of currency collapse will infect every aspect of the economy, leading to mass layoffs and a sudden stop in transportation via trucks, rail and dryships. Trade goods will cease to move across the nation.
■Collapse in the U.S. financial system
If you haven’t read James Rawles’ book Patriots, do so. The opening two chapters deal with exactly the scenario forecasted by John Williams. As mentioned, we will see stock prices and stock markets probably go through the roof initially, in nominal dollar terms. But, once it is realized that the dollar has been destroyed, along with all US denominated paper assets, we may see a shut-down of US Stock markets. While there may certainly be other signals, a freeze in the trading of stocks as a result of hyperinflationary pressure on the US Dollar should be a warning alarm to all of those with a bug-out location. Complete system collapse will not be far behind- — and we could literally be talking days, not weeks or months.
■Realignment of the U.S. political environment
It may be hard to believe, but it is certainly not outside the realm of possibility. The political system as we know it, like voting for representatives, may deteriorate quickly, meaning that martial law may need to be implemented. It is no secret that President Obama will have 1 million US military soldiers on the ready by the end of January 2010 to deal with just such a scenario. Local law enforcement and emergency services will break down, as responders will opt to protect their own families. This will force the hand of the Federal Government, as there will be no police to deal with looting, violent crime, and civil unrest resulting from a collapse in trade and essential supplies.
If Mr. Williams’ forecast plays out as described, then preparation will be a key to survival. As Mr. Williams points out, and many observers feel deep down, the problems that have been pushed into the future have now come home to roost:

Indeed, pushing the big problems into the future appears to have been the working strategy for both the Fed and recent Administrations. Yet, the U.S. dollar and the budget deficit do matter, and the future is at hand. The day of ultimate financial reckoning has arrived, and it is playing out.

How much time do we have? We have heard Dr. Marc Faber, who suggests that it could happen quickly, by 2012, or even later, around 2018. Mr. Williams, has recently adjusted his timelines based on the data he is interpreting:

The intensifying economic and solvency crises, and the responses to both by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve in the last two years, have exacerbated the government’s solvency issues and moved forward my timing estimation for the hyperinflation to the next five years, from the 2010 to 2018 timing range estimated in the prior report. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-moneyed special interests, gross mismanagement, and a deliberate and ongoing effort to debase the U.S. currency. Accordingly, risks are particularly high of the hyperinflation crisis breaking within the next year.

This may not necessarily mean that by the end of 2010 we will be living like Road Warriors, but the system is under so much pressure, that we may begin to see the initial effects very soon, as discussed above.

For those who hope for change, we’re sorry to inform you that it isn’t coming, because it is too late:

The U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon. Bankrupt sovereign states most commonly use the currency printing press as a solution to not having enough money to cover obligations. The alternative would be for the U.S. to renege on its existing debt and obligations, a solution for modern sovereign states rarely seen outside of governments overthrown in revolution, and a solution with no happier ending than simply printing the needed money. With the creation of massive amounts of new fiat dollars (not backed by gold or silver) will come the eventual destruction of the value of the U.S. dollar and related dollar-denominated paper assets.

Folks, if Mr. Williams and others are right about this, then I am afraid that we are going to experience something in the United States that will be written about for centuries in the history books (if the whole planet doesn’t get wiped out by a nuke war before it’s all said and done).

What can be done now? The answer is nothing. It is just time.

Zero Hedge opines:

Take away the fiat illusion, and the real value collapses to those concepts of tangible value that will remain in a post bubble implosion scenario: whether these be spam, gold, or lead.

We’ll be publishing a basic primer on prepping your SHTF Plan for Hyperinflationary collapse, but for now, we urge our readers to consider Mr. Williams’ analysis and take some advice from Zero Hedge. Consider reserve foods (plug: www.readynutrition.com) and precious metals (gold, 1 oz silver coins, 90% silver quarters/dimes available at ebay.com for fair market prices). Of course there are other preps that one can make, including the acquisition of self defense weapons and finding a longer-term bug out locations outside of major cities. You do not want to be in suburbia if the above scenarios unfold.

When it hits the fan, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Via Zero Hedge. Thanks to Tom of the North for the update.


Link

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-ne...way-of-avoiding-financial-armageddon_12152009

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More:


What is Money When the System Collapses?

...

Gold, silver and currencies favoured as hyper-inflationary great depression nears

 

[4candles]

800,000 Could Die from Magnitude 8 Quake in Himalayas.



By Press Trust of India
Oct 10, 2013
NEW DELHI, India


Over eight lakh people may die if an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale occurs in the seismically active Himalayan states from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, National Disaster Management Authority's Vice Chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy has warned.

The entire Himalayan belt is seismically very active and during a short span of 53 years between 1897 and 1950, four major earthquakes, (Shillong in 1897, Kangra in 1905, Bihar-Nepal in 1934 and Assam in 1950) exceeding magnitude eight on the Richter scale occurred in the region causing vast devastation.

"No such earthquake has occurred since 1950. Studies indicate that enough strains have accumulated to generate magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes in the Himalayan region. If an earthquake of magnitude eight occurs in the Himalayan states, eight to nine lakh people may lose their lives," the NDMA vice chief told PTI.

When and where such an earthquake would occur is not known and therefore, the best approach to face such an eventuality was to work for developing an earthquake-resilient society, Reddy said.


Link:
http://www.indiawest.com/news/14145-800-000-could-die-from-magnitude-8-quake-in-himalayas.html

 

[4candles]

Russia Building Attack Drones That May Put Predator(US) to Shame


For years now, the world has heard all about U.S. military attacks in places like Pakistan and Somalia, with the attack drone known as the MQ-1 Predator, or more recently the MQ-9 Reaper, armed with Hellfire missiles. However, now the Russian military may be actively developing a massive, 20-ton attack drone that would dwarf the General Atomics drones by comparison.

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper weighs approximately 4,901 lbs (2,223 kg), or just under 2.5 tons. If the reports from the State-run Russian media outlet, Pravda, is true – the massive Russian attack drone would be nearly ten times heavier than the Reaper. It is essentially a miniature fighter aircraft that doesn’t require a pilot.

According to Pravda, the Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi is in the process of building the prototype, set to be finished by 2018.


Russian Drone Development

Up until now, the Russian drone development program lagged behind that of the rest of the world, so this announcement is a surprise. According to Vladimir Anokhin, the vice president of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, the effort will need to overcome the limitations of a limited industrial base and lack of skilled workers.

“We have wonderful teams that have spent decades working on this. But we do not have enough hands. We do not have the industrial base, we do not have skilled workers who could produce a massive amount of those drones that we need so much now.”

The development effort is funded by the Ministry of Defense of Russia, and it is likely that the 20-ton attack drone will not be the only aircraft to come out of the effort. Anokhin told Pravda that Russian plans for the craft are varied, and include being “sent to combat zones, to explore and carry out regular observations”. In other words, they will likely also include a family of surveillance drones.

Continue Reading...

http://www.topsecretwriters.com/201...attack-drones-that-may-put-predator-to-shame/


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Additional info...

 

[4candles]

The Iron Man cometh: US Army commissions 'TALOS' suit with liquid armor

Published time: October 10, 2013 14:28
Edited time: October 11, 2013 12:20

The fantastic fictional powers enjoyed by comic book superheroes and villains – including enhanced strength, night vision and resistance to bullets - may become a reality soon if the US military gets its way.

As if inspired by Marvel Comics itself, the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has commissioned a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS for short, which will likely contain liquid armor, a substance that is being developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to the official website of the US Army.

The material can change from liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied, allowing a soldier wearing the protective suit to survive attack from heavy gunfire

The outfit is also expected to include its own internal supply of heat, air and oxygen.

Public discussion about creating a 21st century suit of armor for US soldiers increased following the US Army’s failed mission last week in Somalia. Members of an elite Navy SEALS unit were forced to retreat in the face of heavy gunfire, while attempting to capture an Al-Shabaab commander believed to be connected to one of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa.

SOCOM, hoping to tap into a deep well of engineering talent, last month issued a request for ideas “from a wide variety of sources, not just traditional military industry but also from academia, entrepreneurs, and laboratories capable of providing the design, construction, and testing of TALOS related technologies.”



Super soldiers?

US Special Operations Command chief Adm. William McRaven believes the technology will make US soldiers practically invincible on the battlefield.

"I'm very committed to this, I'd like that last operator that we lost to be the last operator we lose in this fight or the fight of the future, and I think we can get there," McRaven told industry representatives gathered at SOCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, last July to discuss the creation of the technology.


Continue Reading...

http://rt.com/usa/talos-socom-army-us-986/

 

[4candles]

Care:
This is a old news article published on 29 July 2013.
Posting it here just for information and have no intention to scare you.
Be alert, be cautious and Please do not let this affect your trading and investing decisions.
Things may not turn ugly now... but may be some time in the future... never know, but when it does we will be the last to know.
Intention is - Its better to be informed.

In case you feel you have been reading too much on this.... Kindly Ignore.

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And you thought $16.7trillion was bad... Leading economist says U.S. national debt is actually $86.8TRILLION

By David Martosko In Washington
PUBLISHED: 20:27 GMT, 29 July 2013





The U.S. government's books are in the red by more than $86.8trillion, according to an influential University of California San Diego economist.
That's a number more than five times as large as the figure acknowledged by the U.S. Treasury and used by government agencies to justify their budgets and spending.

Officially, the debt stands at $16.7trillion, including nearly $12million in debt held by the public in the form of Treasury Bonds, wrote James Hamilton in a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research.

On the last day of 2012, the national debt clock in New Yrk City showed $16.38 trillion in debt, comign out to more than $138,000 for each U.S. family. Another $300 billion has been added since then, not including the extra $70 TRILLION Hamilton identified

Hamilton's math shows that at the end of 2012, nearly $70.1 trillion (bottom, right) was owed in off-balance-sheet liabilities, in addition to the 'official' federal debts

But that number doesn't include several 'off-balance sheet' obligations including $54.1trillion in missing funding for Medicare and Social Security, along with support for federal housing, loan guarantees, savings deposit insurance and the cost of actions taken by the Federal Reserve.
'The biggest items in this category come from Social Security and Medicare which, if current policy is maintained, will require enormous sacrifices from future taxpayers,' Hamilton wrote.

Future commitments for Social Security - whose misnamed 'trust fund' is actually empty - will cost the government $26.5trillion in today's dollars when beneficiaries start cashing in their benefits. Future Medicare commitments account for another $27.6trillion.

'These numbers are so huge it is hard even to discuss them in a coherent way,' argues Hamilton.
'Although one can quarrel with the specific numbers, there is an undeniable important reality that they reflect -- the U.S. population is aging, and an aging population means fewer people paying in and more people expecting benefits. This reality is unambiguously going to be a key constraint on the sustainability of fiscal policy for the United States.'

Conservative groups are leaping up to point out the apocalyptic nature of the new numbers.

'If we don't do something to get a handle on these unfunded liabilities, the result will be complete economic decay and catastrophe,' Club for Growth Spokesman Barney Keller told MailOnline.

Keller said it's 'important for America to reform entitlements by doing things like converting Medicare into a voucher system or reforming Social Security by offering private accounts for younger workers.'



Continue Reading....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-US-national-debt-actually-86-8TRILLION.html

 

[DanPickUp]

All very informative about the crisis in the USA, but we also can make it worse by showing the world only a black and dark future. It is not like that. There is also Sunshine and all the world not only runs by the problems those guys have and create. It is out of question that what they do is absolute wrong, unproductive, selfish, childish and shows the true face of how democratic they are. Two parties who fight each other now for over one hundert year and both are on the same level. Joe average would lose his job by doing what those politicians do in the name of them, but the world will still move on and we still will laugh and be happy.