I watch Fox News once in a while, to find out what the rubes are being fed today, in their factless Happy Meals.
Today I was greeted by this clown [Sr Editor] Jamie Weinstein from the Daily Caller,
who was indignantly claiming that America's biggest problem is "its $80 Trillion in Unfunded Liabilities." Quickly adding, "It's criminal."
Meanwhile, clown-wrangler Gregg Jarrett simply grinned like the carnival-barker he is: "Fascinating, I'm glad you said that. Do go on ..."
Ronald McSpinner went on to flatly state, "Congress' obsession with 'Taxing the Rich' is a distraction. It's meaningless."
Frame-enabler Jarrett, concurs: "Really!? I thought so."
Raising Taxes is meaningless? How are we to pay our bills then, with
Fox News McNuggets?
Just wait 24 hours, they'll always make more ... FOX is kind like the FED, that way ...
Curious as to how far this False Frame has spread, I did a quick search. Here are some quick results:
Report: Federal unfunded liabilities total $84 trillion
by Michael Bastasch, DailyCaller.com -- July 7, 2012
The federal government faces unfunded liabilities totalling $84 trillion, with more than $30.3 trillion owed to public debt holders, federal employees and current retirees in the form of Social Security and Medicaid benefits, according to a recent report by the nonpartisan National Center for Policy Analysis [primarily funded by private foundations established by wealthy conservative business families and billionaires, including Charles and David Koch].
“Overall, the fiscal imbalance is equal to 5.7 percent of the present value of all future GDP, which translates into about 31 percent of the long run federal revenue estimate,” the report states.
[...]
$80 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities The True Noose Around Our Necks
by Robert Rohlfing, CanadaFreePress.com -- Dec 1, 2012
We hear all about the $16 Trillion dollars in debt that our country is in, but the much larger problem and the one that our politicians and citizens do not want to talk about honestly is the $80 Trillion Dollars in Unfunded Liabilities at the federal level. [...]
BIGELOW: Punting problems to next generation won’t solve fiscal crisis
by Celia Bigelow, WashingtonTimes.com -- Dec 28, 2012
[...]
That isn’t the worst of it. The federal government doesn’t account for the unfunded liabilities -- the future promised payments not covered by current revenues or assets --in our nation’s projections and annual reports. We owe an estimated $20.5 trillion in future Social Security benefits and $42.8 trillion for Medicare payments. In fact, total unfunded liabilities in America are estimated to be anywhere between $86 trillion and $100 trillion.
[...]
Celia Bigelow, 22, is the campus director for American Majority Action.
Mort Zuckerman:
Brace For an Avalanche of Unfunded Debt
The fiscal cliff isn't as scary as the looming deficit and debt crisis about to swamp the country
by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, usnews.com -- Dec 28, 2012
[...]
The greatest fiscal challenge to the U.S. government is not just its annual deficit but its total liabilities. Our federal balance sheet does not include the unfunded social insurance obligations of Medicare, Social Security, and the future retirement benefits of federal employees. Only in the small print of the financial statements do you get some idea of the enormous size of the unfunded commitments. Today the estimated unfunded total is more than $87 trillion, or 550 percent of our GDP. And the debt per household is more than 10 times the median family income.
[...]
Funny Mort, the originating report (funded by Koch), said the imbalance is in the 30% neighborhood, not the 550%.
Funny Celia, the fact that "We owe an estimated $20.5 trillion in future Social Security benefits" -- might have something to do with that is what we have paid into it. Maybe the General Fund (ie Congress) should quit borrowing from the Trust Fund to finance our their wars, eh? Those I.O.U's are a bitch, sometimes. The Law says, "Repayment in full, with interest."
Sorry Mc' Bastasch, if the idea of "paying our bills" and "honoring our commitments to workers" disturbs you so much -- Maybe you should move to Canada, where you and the Kochs have obviously been spreading your wares.
And with regards to that scarey "Unfunded Medicare Liability" -- perhaps Chris Hayes put it best, with his "let's wait and see" commentary ...
Time-mark 0:37
Chris Hayes: My feeling on this {Medicare growth rate un-sustainability} is, we just spent all this time, legislative effort, political capital -- on this 2000 page bill, which the Tea Party would keep telling me it's 2000 pages. That means it's bad apparently.
That we passed this big bill, most of which was 'stuff to try to bring down Health Care costs.' Now it might not work. It might be a total disaster. All the critics of the bill's cost-containment measures, might be totally true,
-- BUT let's just see! If it'll work or not, and then come back and re-attack the problem in 5 years.
link to video
The sky-is-falling, we-don't-pay-for-anything floor is yours ...