Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities: The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending

This short video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity reveals that deficits and debt are symptoms of the real problem: excessive government spending..

Here are the main points of the video:

Over the next 10 years the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Federal Government will spend $3.6 trillion per year, growing to $5.7 trillion, as shown below:

Deficits are going to average $1 trillion per year, as shown below:

The national debt (debt held by the public) will climb from $9 trillion to $20 trillion, as shown below:

Although incomes are expected to climb, they will not keep pace with government spending. Debt as a percentage of GDP will rise from 50% to 90%, as shown below:

Our debt burden in 2020 will be similar to what Greece has today, as shown below:

Publicly held debt is the amount the government has borrowed from private credit markets to finance public spending. Gross debt includes public debt plus amounts the Treasury department has borrowed from other agency accounts, such as the Social Security Trust Fund. The gross debt is $4.6 trillion higher than publicly held debt, as shown below.

The extra $4.6 billion in the gross federal debt does not include unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare.

The estimates of unfunded liabilities are between $50 – $100 trillion.

These numbers are much bigger than the national debt, as shown below.

The problem: The federal government is too big and spends too much. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the big culprits. The lesson for us: we must restrain the growth of government.