That Mr. Obama had been sent by history to assuage...

“That Mr. Obama had been sent by history to assuage the insecurities of the middle class with a “New” New Deal was always a tad detached from reality anyway. The reason is those giant legacies of existing New Dealism known as Social Security and Medicare, about which he was careful to say nothing intelligible during the campaign. These programs worked for a while too, but now their expected revenues are (in present value) about $99.2 trillion short of the expected outlays required to assure present and future workers their promised comfort in retirement.”

Obama Hears a Giant Sucking Sound - WSJ.com

I wonder if that $99.2 trillion figure is correct. Cause if so, that’s pretty crazy. But I wonder if that means billion. (via josephweisenthal)

I’ve read two books and many articles on this subject and $99 trillion is the biggest number I’ve seen but it’s in the same ballpark, especially considering how much time has passed and how little has been done. For comparison, the number that the US Government Accountability Office most recently published was $54 trillion just counting the current debt and the next 75 years of budget gaps. That’s the official government number and it’s in their interest for that number to be as small as possible.