Accurate Financial Reporting

We start this essay with the exact wording from the US Constitution pertinent to today’s topic:

Article I, Section 9 is entitled “Limits on Congress.” The sentence in this section pertinent to today's essay is, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

Today, we focus on the wording, “…a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

Does this wording include a regular Statement of Debt which is the direct consequence of the net of the Receipts and Expenditures?

Apparently not. Think about this simple extrapolation. The courts, the congress and the president(s) have taken the bare bones language of the Constitution and stretched, massaged and distorted those words over 200+ years and used the ambiguity of those words to create a massive, intrusive national government which is completely inconsistent with the wording and the intent of those who created the document. How do we know this? Well, the fine folk who fought for a great independent land sought strict controls over any government because they just had to fight for their lives in order to get out from under the burden of an oppressive national government. We cannot comprehend that they expected the government they formed to spend itself into a massive debt burden for which there would be no repayment program.   

What is the real debt of the United States? On May 10, TheFundamentals presented the US debt numbers provided by the US Treasury department. The recent growth of this debt is staggering. It is at massive record levels with no repayment program. It is growing monthly at massive record levels. It is projected to grow at massive record levels for the foreseeable future which means for years to come. It is not sustainable. It is the sure route to destruction of the country. But, we only published the portion recorded by treasury because that portion is actually documented with issued obligations – treasury notes, bills and bonds. But what about all the other debts and obligations and contingent liabilities of the US government? The so-called “off balance sheet” obligations. Where can we go to locate those numbers? Where does the United States government tally up all the debt, all the commitments, all the obligations? Where does the US government make that important information publically available. We don’t know. We can’t find it.  Surely our government would not hide this important calculation?

We Googled “total US debt.” They tell us that Wikipedia (W) is the most frequently used link to examine this search topic. So we read what W has to say and it is rather disconcerting. W says that the numbers we show from treasury exclude Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the US now stands behind all their debt. W estimates the debt of these two government outfits as “just over “$5 trillion.” FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS!  W also points out that the US has taken on substantial obligations as part of its support, guarantees and funding of various programs and bailouts beginning in late 2008 and continuing up to this moment. How much are these obligations and commitments? How much has the Federal Reserve committed?  We don’t know. And what about the other commitments that are quantifiable but are not identifiable through any reasonable search or examination.  What are these you ask? They include Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Last, we ask about the known spending commitments for all forms of government programs, bureaucracies and military activities. Perhaps a simple way to address all these items, and also include the rising interest costs associated with rising debt, is to ask for an accurate projection of future deficits which will become future debt in the very near future. If you know you are going to spend it and you know you won’t be able to pay for it you darn well had better document it as more and more debt and you darn well had better know when it is coming and how you will borrow the funds. That would seem to be a direct requirement under the Constitution wording noted above.

So, here is our conclusion. This fall when the folk are running around asking for your vote, answer them this way. We want to know how much we owe. Not what you occasionally tell us but the real numbers. And then we want to know how much you will commit to reduce that amount if we give you the job. If they can’t answer the question and they will not commit to report on and reduce the accurate total amount owed, tell ‘em to take a hike. Better to vote for no one.  Better yet, run for office yourself as long as you are willing to commit to abide by the Constitution and are willing to produce an accurate financial statement as required by the Constitution.