Economist John Williams tells all

I am loath to post this, not because of content, but because it comes from that toxic waste dump of right-wing-cum-fascist non-thought called WorldNetDaily, a latter-day cyber version of "Völkischer Beobachter." But it offers in detail critically important ideas from the indispensable John Williams of ShadowStats, a fellow whom any American ought to read and read again.

In short, the American government owes more debt than the entire country is worth--some $65 trillion to date. How did we run up such a tremendous sum, you ask? Well, every year the government's promise to fund Social Security and Medicare in the future amounts to about $4.5-5 trillion. These are not actual expenditures for the fiscal year; they are promises to spend in the future. That's basically what you see on that statement you get from the Social Security Administration; your "account" is nothing more than the government's promise to pay you in the future. You have no actual money in any "account;" just numbers on a piece of paper. What, you say, but I've been paying Social Security taxes every year I've worked! Yes, and the government has spent every penny it collected from you and your employer and left behind a bunch of IOUs in that fabled Social Security lock box Al Gore babbled about in the 2000 presidential campaign.

How will the government pay such a colossal amount over the years? The same way it will pay for Mr. Obama's "stimulus" spending spree--by printing money, by debasing the currency, by inflation, double-digit inflation, triple-digit, and then hyper-inflation. Do you know much about the history of the Weimar Republic? Now is the time to bone-up on some 20th century history before you have to load a wheelbarrow full with 100-dollar bills to go grocery shopping.

One inescapable fact you will glean from reading John Williams: everybody's bankrupt--the government, the banks, the corporations, and you! You just don't know it yet.

Read it here