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Our government masters routinely lie to us about how much of our money they steal and spend.
According to this article Uncle Sam spends $42,054 for each household in the USA, while the median income of a household in the USA is $49,445. Which means the average household gets to keep a measly $7,391 or 15 percent of the money it earns, while Uncle Sam steals the other $42,054 or 85 percent of the households income. The numbers can be confusing because Uncle Sam only collects about 60 percent of the money it spends with taxes. The other 40 percent of the money Uncle Sam spends is created out of thin air by running the printing presses printing money. Uncle Sam pretends that the printed money is "borrowed" and the total amount of money printed is added to the National Debt. Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress. A U.S. household's median income is $49,445, the Census reports. The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules. The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government's books. Contrasting deficits The federal government calculates the deficit in a way that makes the number smaller than if standard accounting rules were followed (in trillions). Deficits are a major issue in this year's presidential campaign, but USA TODAY has calculated federal finances under accounting rules since 2004 and found no correlation between fluctuations in the deficit and which party ran Congress or the White House. Key findings: •Social Security had the biggest financial slide. The government would need $22.2 trillion today, set aside and earning interest, to cover benefits promised to current workers and retirees beyond what taxes will cover. That's $9.5 trillion more than was needed in 2004. •Deficits from 2004 to 2011 would be six times the official total of $5.6 trillion reported. •Federal debt and retiree commitments equal $561,254 per household. By contrast, an average household owes a combined $116,057 for mortgages, car loans and other debts. "By law, the federal government can't tell the truth," says accountant Sheila Weinberg of the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in Accounting. Jim Horney, a former Senate budget staff expert now at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says retirement programs should not count as part of the deficit because, unlike a business, Congress can change what it owes by cutting benefits or lifting taxes. "It's not easy, but it can be done. Retirement programs are not legal obligations," he says. |