Truth in Accounting: America’s Official Debt Will Soon Top $12 Trillion

November 10, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

This week, the official debt of the United States of America will top $12 trillion. In just one short year, The Treasury Department has borrowed more than $4,600 for each citizen. U.S. government debt has risen to an unprecedented $12 trillion. That’s up from $10.6 trillion just one year ago. Debt held by the public has grown by nearly $1.4 trillion or a whopping 13.58%. “To increase the debt at this alarming rate is just plain scary,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, the Northbrook Illinois based accounting watchdog organization. What’s worse, the nation’s real debt-including Social Security and Medicare obligations– is at least $72.6 Trillion or more than $235,000 for every man, woman and child.

The absolute and relative size of the nation’s obligations are alarming.

“There is no parallel to this amount of debt in American history, even during our wars and recessions,” said Weinberg. “For example, the U.S. debt the end of World War II was $258 billion or just $2.8 trillion in today’s dollars[Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator].”

Total U.S. obligations have ballooned since the economy turned down. “The Federal government is bailing out banks, the auto industry and the housing market,” said Roger Nelson, the Institute’s chairman. “At the rate the feds are borrowing I am wondering who is going to bail America out?”

Nelson added, “The growth in our ‘public’ debt concerns me, because an increasing proportion of ‘the public” are actually foreigners who may not have our nation’s best interests in mind.”

The Institute calculated the federal debt every minute. Keep an eye on it by viewing our spinning debt clock at: www.truthinaccounting.org.

About the Institute for Truth in Accounting

The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) is dedicated to promoting honest, accurate, and transparent accounting at all levels of government and business. As a non-partisan, non-profit organization, the IFTA works to expose accounting deficiencies while promoting better, more accessible delivery of accurate government financial data-and, in turn, providing a foundation for more informed public policy. The IFTA provides its expertise to develop more effective accounting standards and deliver accurate government financial information to policymakers, opinion leaders, and citizens, so they can all work for a more secure financial future. To learn more, please visit our website at www.TruthInAccounting.org.

Please visit www.truthin2010.org to see the nation’s total debt being counted. We invite you to install our debt counter on your site with our compliments!
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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