The 2006 Financial Report of the United States

Skuggaleg lesning.

Athugið hvað ríkisendurskoðandi BNA hefur að segja (frá bls. 149).

"""...the US government's total reported liabilities, net social insurance commitments, and other fiscal exposures continue to grow and now total approximately $50 Trillion, representing approximately four times the Nation's total output (GDP) in fiscal year 2006, up from about $20 Trillion, or two times GDP in fiscal year 2000..."""

http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/06frusg/06frusg.pdf

Bandarísk trilljón = þúsund milljarðar = milljón milljónir = $1.000.000.000.000

 

 

Athugasemdir

[Baldur Fjölnisson, 25.9.2007 kl. 16:13]

Ég mæli með Grandfather's Economic Report

Grandfather Economic Report - Home Page - by MWHodges

Þetta eru helstu niðurstöður hans:

1. As America began to 'invent' new reasons for larger government than defined by its founding forefathers as the 4 principle purposes of government, government spending increased faster than economic growth, primarily fueled by zooming social program spending, much caused by Social Security & Medicare - and the share of the economic pie remaining to the private sector was reduced. Government spending ratios increased for the federal government, and state & local government spending increased faster than the economy and its employee head-counts faster than the population. As of today, the federal government spending ratio has reached 25% of national income - representing 10 times more growth in government spending than growth in the economy since1930. And, state & local government spending now consumes 15% of the economy, three times higher than after the 2nd world war.
2. National productivity and savings started a long down-trend and by 1970 real family incomes stopped rising and stagnated - as earnings of full-time males declined, singling the end of the on-wage earner family as more mothers were sucked into the workforce (away from their children) trying to help make up the difference - as each working person had to support more seniors and more state & local government employees than ever before - -and what we used to know as 'family values' begin to decline.
3. Education Productivity (relationship of output quality to per student real spending) started a long-term slide in the 1960s, dropping 71% over the next 3 decades. Helped by changing measurement criteria, this 'rate' has improved somewhat in last 2 years.
4. As a result of such government expansion, government entities increased mandated regulations on the private sector, at accelerating regulatory compliance cost loads on the economy and its productivity and savings. Today's compliance costs consume 16% of the total national income.
5. Following the above, inflation rates jumped - - and today are still higher than during the period of strong family income growth when inflation was measured by more stringent methods.
6. The nation's Trade Balance went steadily negative starting in then 1970s - and today America is the world's largest debtor nation - - with increasing deficits each year to a new all-time record deficit today.
7. And, the International Value of the U.S. dollar may again be threatened by exploding trade deficits, as it was before.
8. The graphics in this America's Debt Report prove that the nation, trying to maintain and expand consumption (instead of producing real goods and savings) begin to go more and more into debt, in relation to the size of the economy. Federal Government Debt ratios, after falling since World War II stopped falling and then soared to the highest peace-time ratio in history. Families, trying to keep up under the squeeze in the economy and of education quality, went more and more into debt, causing Household debt ratio (charts above) to grow twice as fast as the economy since the mid 1970s when family incomes stagnated - and are rising exponentially as of today.
9. Debt of the Financial Sector (charts next page) accelerated, now expanding exponentially to the highest ratios in history.
10. And - - America's debt productivity, less and less national income per added dollar of new debt outstanding, has significantly deteriorated.
11. As debt soars in America citizen voter turnout deteriorates, as does trust in government and family confidence in their future.

[Baldur Fjölnisson, 26.9.2007 kl. 09:16]

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

By Jeremy Grant in Washington

Published: August 14 2007 00:06 Financial Times

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

The above FT article draws from (pdf):
Transforming Government to Meet the Demands of the 21st Century by Presentation by the Honorable David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States