The Debt Ceiling

Besides trillion+ $ deficits for at least the next 10 yrs (CBO estimate with current policy) and the current national debt of 16+ trillion $  the  present value of the unfunded liability of the federal government in 2010 was 104 trillion $ and is currently approximately 120 trillion $. The 104 trillion $ figure is from a public statement made in 2010 by the Richard Fisher the head of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. 89 trillion of the 2010 unfunded liability is attributable to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The President’s Bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform led by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson in 2010 concluded the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are unsustainable in the current form. Erskine Bowles stated that failure to control the deficit will destroy the country from within.