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$45 trillion gap seen in US benefits

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WASHINGTON - The shortfall between the promises the government has made on Social Security, Medicare and other benefit programs is $45 trillion over the next 75 years, up nearly $1 trillion in just one year, the Bush administration reported Monday.

The administration, releasing the "Financial Report of the United States Government" for 2007, said that the gap between benefits that have been promised and projected revenues is up 67.8 percent from just four years ago, when it was estimated at $26.9 trillion.

This shortfall includes Social Security and Medicare in addition to Railroad Retirement and the Black Lung program.

When the shortfall in social insurance programs is added to other government commitments, the total shortfall as of Sept. 30 represented $53 trillion, up more than $2 trillion in just a year, the report said.

"Our government has made a whole lot of promises in the long-term that it cannot possibly keep," Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, said Monday.

Members of Congress said the increase in the unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare underscored the critical urgency to do something in light of the looming retirement in coming years of 78 million baby boomers.

"The longer we delay action on the issue of entitlement reform, the more difficult the solution will become," said Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.

Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., said the new report emphasized the need to enact legislation he is supporting that would create a bipartisan commission to make recommendations on overhauling benefit programs and then submit those recommendations to an up-or-down vote in Congress.

"If we don't take action now, it threatens to destroy our social safety net and ruin our economic prosperity," Cooper said in a statement.

The new report said that the federal budget deficit would have been 69 percent higher than the $162.8 billion reported two months ago if the government had used the same accounting methods as private companies. Under the accrual method of accounting, the deficit would have totaled $275.5 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

Under the accrual method of accounting, expenses are recorded when they are incurred rather than when they are paid. That raises the costs for liabilities such as pensions and health insurance. The new report was released by the Treasury Department and the president's Office of Management and Budget.

The $275.5 billion deficit under the accrual method of accounting was still down by 38.7 percent from the deficit under this accounting method the previous year, when it totaled $449.5 billion.

The deficit on a cash-flow basis of $162.8 billion represented the lowest imbalance in five years. The administration noted the decline in the deficit under both measurements.

"The 2.6 trillion in record-breaking revenues that flowed into the Treasury this year reflect a healthy economy," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a statement accompanying the new report.

But officials warned that something must be done to address the significant shortfall in the government's largest benefit programs for Social Security and Medicare.

"Reducing the deficit in the short-term will put us in a better position for dealing with the longer-term entitlement issue, which can only be characterized as an oncoming fiscal train wreck," said OMB Director Jim Nussle.

Congress ordered the government a decade ago to start issuing annual reports using the accrual method of accounting in an effort to show the finances in a way that was comparable with the private sector.

As it has for every report, the GAO, Congress' auditing arm, said it could not sign off on the books because of problems at various agencies, most notably the Defense Department.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

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Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

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Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

Yeah, I think we should start another government program that we can't afford. :blink:

Government spending needs to be revamped and rethought from the ground up. Catastrophic health care coverage is actually a good use of government money. SS payments to wealthy old people who use the money to take cruises is not.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

Yeah, I think we should start another government program that we can't afford. :blink:

Says volumes about govament promises, doesnt it.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

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Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

Yeah, I think we should start another government program that we can't afford. :blink:

Government spending needs to be revamped and rethought from the ground up. Catastrophic health care coverage is actually a good use of government money. SS payments to wealthy old people who use the money to take cruises is not.

Wealthy,wealthy, wealthy! Yep lets just stay a poor, so we can complain about the wealthy. Wealth envy is a biotch.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

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Filed: Timeline
Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

Yeah, I think we should start another government program that we can't afford. :blink:

Government spending needs to be revamped and rethought from the ground up. Catastrophic health care coverage is actually a good use of government money. SS payments to wealthy old people who use the money to take cruises is not.

Wealthy,wealthy, wealthy! Yep lets just stay a poor, so we can complain about the wealthy. Wealth envy is a biotch.

Which is a better use of taxpayer money?

Catastrophic healthcare coverage or a 7-day Bahamas cruise for Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein?

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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Healthcare anyone? :whistle:

Yeah, I think we should start another government program that we can't afford. :blink:

Government spending needs to be revamped and rethought from the ground up. Catastrophic health care coverage is actually a good use of government money. SS payments to wealthy old people who use the money to take cruises is not.

Wealthy,wealthy, wealthy! Yep lets just stay a poor, so we can complain about the wealthy. Wealth envy is a biotch.

Which is a better use of taxpayer money?

Catastrophic healthcare coverage or a 7-day Bahamas cruise for Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein?

Well, I guess if I were the Goldsteins I would be looking forward to the cruise. If I were you, I suppose I would be pissed at the Goldsteins.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

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Filed: Timeline

Which is a better use of taxpayer money?

Catastrophic healthcare coverage or a 7-day Bahamas cruise for Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein?

Well, I guess if I were the Goldsteins I would be looking forward to the cruise. If I were you, I suppose I would be pissed at the Goldsteins.

Yeah, I see busloads of seniors go to Atlantic City on the day they get their SS checks. Fukc them, they don't deserve it. SS should be means tested.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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Which is a better use of taxpayer money?

Catastrophic healthcare coverage or a 7-day Bahamas cruise for Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein?

Well, I guess if I were the Goldsteins I would be looking forward to the cruise. If I were you, I suppose I would be pissed at the Goldsteins.

Yeah, I see busloads of seniors go to Atlantic City on the day they get their SS checks. Fukc them, they don't deserve it. SS should be means tested.

Universal health care would also apply to the rich you know.

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Filed: Timeline

Which is a better use of taxpayer money?

Catastrophic healthcare coverage or a 7-day Bahamas cruise for Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein?

Well, I guess if I were the Goldsteins I would be looking forward to the cruise. If I were you, I suppose I would be pissed at the Goldsteins.

Yeah, I see busloads of seniors go to Atlantic City on the day they get their SS checks. Fukc them, they don't deserve it. SS should be means tested.

Universal health care would also apply to the rich you know.

I'm not for universal HC. I'm for universal catastrophic healthcare only. That is a crises that impacts across the economic spectrum.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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Yeah, the root of all evil, people with more money than you. I say great job,others say "fckin rich #######"

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

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Yeah, the root of all evil, people with more money than you. I say great job,others say "fckin rich #######"

The root of all evil, in this case, is poor use of taxpayer money. Federal tax revenues are actually quite large, it should be used in a more judicious manner than it is today.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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Yeah, the root of all evil, people with more money than you. I say great job,others say "fckin rich #######"

The root of all evil, in this case, is poor use of taxpayer money. Federal tax revenues are actually quite large, it should be used in a more judicious manner than it is today.

Troll I totally agree! But unicare isnt judicious.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."- Ayn Rand

“Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.”

― Andrew Wilkow

Link to comment
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Filed: Timeline
Yeah, the root of all evil, people with more money than you. I say great job,others say "fckin rich #######"

The root of all evil, in this case, is poor use of taxpayer money. Federal tax revenues are actually quite large, it should be used in a more judicious manner than it is today.

Troll I totally agree! But unicare isnt judicious.

I'm not advocating unicare. I'm advocating catastrophe care. This is a wealthy country, we can easily afford to take care of people fighting for their lives after an auto accident or similar emergency without them having to worry about spending the rest of their lives in debt or with bankruptcy-tarnished credit history. I am NOT advocating free flu shots for all.

I am also advocating that seniors who have enough to pay their way with their pensions and 401ks, etc., should have their SS benefits cut. There are better uses for the money.

JMHO.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

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