The longterm U.S. debt under President Obama’s latest spending plan is far worse than his budget suggests, reaching a total of about $84 trillion – that is, 8.4 percent of a quadrillion dollars, or $0.084 quadrillion.
Yes, it’s time to start using the quadrillion number, because with trillions getting added to the debt at an accelerating pace, the numbers are starting to become meaningless again unless put in the proper perspective.
The Obama budget forecasts a startling federal debt of just over $25 trillion. But that’s only the beginning of the frightening story of the government’s longterm obligations.
Over future decades, Medicare – before taking into account Obama’s “cuts” – has an unfunded liability of close to $43 trillion, according to the most recent Social Security and Medicare actuaries report. That is what the government is currently obligated to pay out to this and the next couple of generations – but for which it has no method on the books of raising money. It just owes that amount, and would currently have to borrow to pay it.
Similarly, the unfunded liability of Social Security is about $20 trillion. And the government has about $6 trillion in unfunded obligations for federal worker pensions. All told, we’re in the hole for about $94 trillion, or nearly $0.1 quadrillion.
Obama’s budget makes cuts to Medicare over the next decade totaling about $370 billion – as you can see, a minuscule portion of the total obligation. And the cuts are mainly to health care providers, which doesn’t amount to the type of serious “reform” needed to save the program. What’s more, the reductions are unlikely to be fully realized because of the lobbying muscle of doctors, hospitals, and other providers.
Obama’s call for chained CPI is, however, a serious proposal that could reduce Social Security’s imbalance by 20-25 percent. So let’s assume under Obama’s plan, Social Security would have an unfunded mandate of about $15 trillion. And let’s be generous and lop $5 trillion off the longterm obligations of Medicare, bringing its shortfall to about $38 trillion.
We’re still at $84 trillion, or $0.84 quadrillion, in total indebtedness.
Now you understand why Republicans are demanding Obama get serious about reducing the debt and enacting entitlement reform, and why his current plan doesn’t seem very serious at all.
39 thoughts on “Obama Debt: Over 8 Percent of $1 Quadrillion”
A quadrillion?
1,000,000,000,000,000
The sad thing is Republicans are not looking to solve this either.
They are their own worst enemy.
That traitor Dennis Hastert and his Republican friends are the reason the public good fed up with Republicans and the reason we got Pelosi and her minions.
Republicans, if they were in power would do nothing to slow down the speed at which Gov’t money is spent.
Trie Conservatives are too few in number in the Republican caucus.
You are correct and the Republicans in the Senate are about to cave on gun control and immigration.
Frightening.
The Republicans can balance and check Obama as well as the Weimar Rechstag did Hitler. How’d that work out, anyway?
Go on, there are republicans in the Senate? Who knew? Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me….
How many quadrillions in a quintillion, Keith? I need a new abacus!
There are a thousand quadrillions in a quintillion. (There are also a billion billions in a quintillion.)
Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?
Although I don’t dispute your point that our debt is waaaay to big, $84 trillion is NOT $0.84 quadrillion; it is $0.084 quadrillion.
That’s true, of course, but the headline is still correct: 0.084 is 12% of a quadrillion. (A little more, actually.)
Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?
Sorry, got carried away with myself. It’s still 8% of a quadrillion. That’s more than 1/12 of a quadrillion, which was the point I was trying for.
Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?
My brain cannot process numbers this large. What it CAN process is orders for bagpipes from Big Sis to go along with over a billion rounds of ammo. Add in simple, easy to understand things like the cost of Air Force One and you come up with real meat for the Republicans to use. Use the concept of “Keep It Simple, Stupid” and fight this idiocy.
In the next-to-the-last paragraph – it should be “0.084 quadrillion”.
This issue of cutting Medicare funds is too personal for a lot of us to be objective and reasonable. Medicare to seniors is a matter of life or death, of pain management or relief, and without this healthcare provision we would be left with no way to pay for the increasingly higher medical costs.
Every senior had paid into Medicare for decades believing that a contract was made with our government to provide necessary medical services. Today, the conversation that, by default, accuses them of being selfish and a detriment to the fiscal future of the US is cruel and deceitful.
Simply cutting disbursements to doctors and hospitals is almost the same as denying Mom&Pop and Grandma&Grandpa healthcare.
Doctors and hospitals are not non-profit organizations who have an obligation to work for nothing, or less than nothing. Many healthcare providers have already indicated that they won’t be taking any new Medicare patients due to financial cuts by Medicare.
President Obama has already cut $716billion from Medicare funds with a stroke of his pen when he signed the ACA. His proposal to cut a paltry number over the next ten years doesn’t compare to the sudden gutting of Medicare to support Obamacare.
You present the case so well I can only agree. Thanks.
For me an additional irritant is how they constantly refer to Medicare and Social Security as entitlements when in fact many of us paid into these systems for years.
Medicaid, initially for the very poor and uninsured , was compassionate. Today it is a huge boondoggle which serves people who are not even American citizens and some who are serial malingerers. I wonder how many anchor babies who now believe they deserve legalization and citizenship were brought into this world and supported with medicaid.
Combining Medicare Part B and Medicare Advantage, my husband and I pay c. $160 per month EACH. Then we pay additional on prescriptions and co-pays for visits and tests. Dental not included. We have paid into Medicare since it came into existence so I agree with you and don’t consider Medicare an entitlement.
Julie, as a caretaker for my mom and dad, I’ve had to learn a whole lot about many things. One thing I found out that I wish I knew 10 years ago is getting your prescription drugs from Canada. I pay less for most of the drugs for a 3 month supply than I paid for a 30 day supply even after medicare part D. And when you order, you pick where the drug is from; so you can say I want this one from the US or that one from Canada, etc. Don’t get that choice at the local pharmacy.
Recently, after a week in the hospital, they put my dad on Seroquel. It cost 191 for 30 days at Walgreens with no insurance, 55 at Kroger, but I ordered a 3 month supply from a canadian pharmacy for 77 bucks and it is made in the USA.
That said, I’m not saying you should drop Part D. I also know that while drugs while in the hospital are covered under medicare A, if you are outpatient, like for chemo or something, that is now part D so not having it could be a serious problem. On the other hand, if you are over 76 years old, it won’t matter because medicare and medicaid will no longer treat cancer if you are above that age bracket, just call hospice.
barkleypontree.blogspot.com
We need to get rid of ALL the illegals in this country, starting with the one occupying the White House and his illegal Aunt and Uncle. I don’t think we can deport Michelle, but we can certainly take away her spending ability. When all these illegals have the balls to come out in public to protest, that’s the time to quietly circle them and arrest them for deportation. Send Mexico the bill for it too.
not only that about medicaid, but hope like heck you don’t, or your parents don’t need it for old age. Once you put an old person in medicaid, the government now owns all their assets: homes, life insurance, etc. When they die, the house and insurance all go to the government. Now, if parents are smart, they can give their kids everything early on, take a big chunk and put it in annuities, and reverse mortgage the house so when they are gone there is nothing left for the government to get their hands on but so few think about this until it’s too late.
You learn a lot raising your parents. Get and keep your legs and intestines in really good shape cause when they break down in old age it ain’t good.
Definition of ENTITLEMENT
1a : the state or condition of being entitled : right
b : a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract
2: a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also : funds supporting or distributed by such a program
As per the above definition, Social Security and Medicare ARE entitlements. The problem with them being entitlements is the benefits can be changed with the stroke of a pen. It has been done before and will be done again. While you “pay” for them, the reason you pay for them is because of law. Congress and the President can change the laws. Which means they can theoretically do whatever they want to with your money and their program. Unfortunately, most people don’t have any other choice than to use the government programs and are forced to trust that it will be there when they need it. But at some point, there isn’t going to be any money. The way it is going, there is going to be a group that loses ALL that was “invested” and the whole Ponzi scheme comes crashing down. And yes, by definition it is a government backed Ponzi scheme.
Definition of PONZI SCHEME
: an investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks
When Social Security began people IMMEDIATELY began drawing benefits even though they had NEVER paid anything into the Entitlement program. That by definition is a Ponzi scheme, Perry had that right!
This has been a long time coming, there is no easy solution and it is going to be one of the downfalls of our country.
So, while I understand what you are trying to say, it is wrong.
No,sorry, you’re wrong.
When I was a kid in high school, and Lyndon Johnson rammed Medi<b.Don'tCare down our throats, the average senior spent ~20% of his income on health care and treatment. In 2011, the average senior spent ~20% of his income on health care and treatment.
Medi<b?Don'tCare had one goal and one only: to assure a Democrat majority in Congress for 40 years. It worked, and it worked because people believe the lies that it “helps” seniors.
That’s simply untrue. It helps politicians. It helps bureaucrats. It helps drug companies. It helps no one else, least of all those of us who have been paying into that corruption for forty years (or more).
I just turned 65. I am now forced to use MediDon’tCare. It was the worst day of my life, including the day I had a heart attack. The government just took control of my life, even more immediately than it did before.
Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?
The current administration likes to provide comparisons and examples of the “real” impact of decisions and stances. The talk of trillions in debt terms provides a very welcome escape clause for them, it means nothing to talk of a billion of this and a trillion of that. To give depth to these numbers they should provide “real” comparisons of the actual scale of the numbers being contemplated.
Converting these debt numbers to time provides that comparison. One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is 32 years. And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. That gives far more relatable comparison of what these numbers actually are. It’s a big jump form a million, to a billion and then up to a trillion. Yet here they are discussing these debt levels as if they are interchangeable.
The only thing this administration has been consistently for is increased spending and using the middle class to pay for it.
One of Obama’s greatest hypocrisies is to talk of saving the middle class. He has destroyed it.
Sorry — cut myself off again. Conclude rant.
My point is there are serious entitlements abuses that are never looked at or considered. And probably never will be.
Totally off topic. Things like this brag by Jay Z, about the Cuba trip, is what pisses me off about the Obamas. These are the people they consort with and hold up as role models. That they do is one thing. But that it can be bragged about publicly is another. Trash.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/jay-z-new-song-cuba-89943.html
The WH is infested with rappers, thugs and drugs. Not to mention a FLOTUS afflicted with Mad Cow’s Disease.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michelle-obama-on-gun-control-these-reforms-deserve-a-vote/2013/04/10/adef2e18-a1f0-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html
Obama sealed all his records, but the ONLY thing he proudly admits to is his illegal drug use. How did this ever happen to OUR country??? That’s a rhetorical question, this one is NOT. What are we going to do to get it BACK?
Pingback: The QUADRILLION Nightmare That Is The Obama Budget Plan - The Ulsterman Report
Next after “quadrillion” is “quintillion,” for what it’s worth.
” Next after “quadrillion” is “quintillion,” for what it’s worth.” – Darkangel
I hope it’s worth more than a dollar, ’cause Obama’s seeing to it that a dollar ain’t worth much at all..
Thanks for putting your 200 cents in, though…..
The history of Social Security (1935) and Medicare (1965) began with the same ‘party’. Obamacare will end up in the same financial mess. A political party that calls itself “progressive” is anything but – it’s the “freight train party” periously speeding along at 100 mph in a 50 mph zone. The conservatives didn’t build the train, but they helped it along by removing the RR crossings.
Stay tuned for the new adventures of the Perils for Pauline.(((sigh)))
Let us make this project go VIRAL ON THE EMAIL web world – share it with your friends and families and ask them to do the same – copy the brochure and give it to all your state and local elected officials . . it will end the IRS, EPA, DOE and take all the bribe money from the Potomac DC class – the lobbyist will leave and the elected SERVANTS will have little power and little money to do them. It Restores State powers and rights. . . http://articlevprojecttorestoreliberty.com/history-of-political-parties.html
Krauthammer says the chained cost of living thing is an old bookkeeping thing everyone has wanted forever and won’t amt to much…and he points out that most of the cutting is after Obama leaves office–and this Cong cannot even commit other Congresses to it. In other words–doubletalk as usual. The “stimmie” was also Dem pocket lint they hauled out on a moment’s notice.
Few of us can comprehend a “lowly” billion. A quadrillion is a million times a billion. But we should try to grasp just how astronomical this number is.
Let’s start with things we call can understand. One second. One minute. One hour. One day. In one day, there are 1440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. One year — 31,536,000 seconds.
Let’s turn the calculation around. For one million seconds, it takes 11½ days. For one billion seconds to pass, it’s11,574 days, that’s 31¾ years. Ronald Reagan has just taken the oath of office 32 years ago.
If the federal government spent “only” $1,000 a second, starting when Ronaldus Magnus took that oath the first time, it would have spent one trillion dollars until today. (Needless to point out that it’s spent far more rapidly than that.) It would have to spend $1,000,000 every second to disburse one quadrillion dollars in 32 years.
It was in living memory when Everett Dirksen is claimed to have said, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.” Dirksen was a piker compared to O’bama, and GW Bush.
Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?
Dagnabit! I told you not to tell Obama there was a number that came after a trillion! Heaven forbid he find out google is actually a number.
I understand the accounting practice of estimating forward committed costs but it is also somewhat of a theoretical number. When you claim 45 trillion is unfunded that means it is unfunded as of today, medicare taxes over that time period will be put against it and it also assumes lots of factors like average age, % of population that lives to certain ages, assumes certain health patterns, etc. Which means it could be less or could be more, probably more, but it really is a theoretical number with no reality assigned. It’s like someone saying a college education will mean 1 million more in income in a lifetime; maybe it will, lots of unemployed college people today being totally out earned by the plumbers and electricians, who never went to college.
Secondly, go back and look at all the CBO estimates from the 1980’s and 1990’s and see how accurate they were and you realize all these numbers are as reliable as a seer predicting the Cubs will win the World Series this year.
barkleypontree.blogspot.com
Quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion…it gets convoluted after that.
We won’t get anywhere close to that, though. America will have long since collapsed before we get very far on that list.
I forget who said it, but “Stop it B! Pay your f***ing bills!”
A nation can suffer it’s fool’s but cannot survive the traitors. It is the time that we should get rid of the nefarious and perverse Imposter-in-chief obama.
Samuel Adam in 1772: ” If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
The Republic can survive barack obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of idiots such as those who made him their president.
God Bless our nation and true patriots.
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