I tend to be skeptical of articles like this one from World Net Daily:
Federal obligations exceed world GDP
Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?
By Jerome R. Corsi, February 13, 2009, WorldNetDaily
As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.
The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.
The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The difference between the $455 billion “official” budget deficit numbers and the $5.1 trillion budget deficit cited by “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur.
But lets for the sake of argument assume that the $65.5 trillion figure is accurate… It ought to scare the hell out of all of us and we should be asking our elected leaders just how are we going to pay for all these obligations?
I don’t have an answer and I doubt any of them do either.