One more try

Curmudgeon politely pointed out in a comment that I added some extra zeros in my deficit sharing figure in the last post – to the tune of three. (It continually amazes me that I scored in the 99th percentile in math tests back when I was a kid – I guess having four answers to choose from takes away from the tests’ predictive value.)

With some further research, it turns out that zeros and long division weren’t my only problems.

According to brillig.com, the current “outstanding public debt” is $11.734 trillion, and some change, or $38,247.47 per person, based on a current population of 306,799,856 as of 6:22 p.m. GMT today.

If you add the projected $9 trillion increase in the deficit over the next ten years giving a total debt of a bit less than $21 trillion in 2019 we are in the neighborhood of $70,000 per person (using a 310 million population number).

Some more: In 2004 (the only year I could find a number for) the net worth (assets minus liabilities) of the median family in the country was about $93,000. I found various numbers for the number of people in a family just above and below 3. Using an average 3.2 people for a “family,” the total net worth of the U.S. population is about $8.8 trillion, $2.9 trillion less than the current deficit. Folks the country has a negative net worth. (Given our recent financial meltdown, I’m assuming the median family net worth has dropped from $93k given the dive in 401K's, house values, etc., giving even grimmer results.) Even assuming a return to economic stability over the next ten years we should still have a negative position. Put a different way, if we return to where we were in 2004 when things were perking along, but run up another $9 trillion in debt, our negative net worth should approach $12.2 trillion.

I’m thinking “baby boomer” will be a cuss word in about ten years. Throw in Medicare and social security underfunding that no one is really talking about. Generational warfare?