USA Today has a wonderful (and interactive graphic) piece today, which presents some truly horrifying numbers about the Average Liabilities Per Household in the USA Today!

Taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover
rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement
benefits, the national debt and other government promises, a USA TODAY
analysis shows.

The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per
household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That’s
quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car
loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

Bottom line: The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in
2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion.

So, again, using the numbers USA Today has, the average US household owes $121,953 in personal debt (mortgages, cars, credit cards, etc), and their share of the federal debt is $546,668.

That gives each US Household, on average, a debt load of $668,621.  Right now, today. 

And what makes up that huge Federal Government Debt component?

$284.288 (52%) is Medicare.  $160.126 (29.3%) is Social Security.  $54,537 (10%) is the General Budget Debt.  Military Retirement is $29, 694 (5.4%).  Civil Service retirement adds $15,851 (2.9%), leaving another $2,172 (.4%) of miscellaneous “other” debts.

And this assumes that the money was set aside TODAY, earning interest, to meet these future commitments.  Which, of course, it’s not.

Now, here is some Fun With Numbers.  You would have to collect Social Security for over 13 years (at the average $12,098 annual benefits) to get back your share of just the SS debt load.  This does not count any of the money you have paid into the Ponzi Scheme.

The Median Household Income in the US in 2007 was pegged at $50,740.  So, the average household would have to work over 13 years to payoff the their total debt load, today, if they contributed 100% of their income to their combined debt.  Over 27 years, if they gave 50% of their income to debt reduction.  Or more than 54 years, if surrendering 25% of their income.

The average household owes almost twice as much to Social Security debt than on their home mortgage.  More than their total annual income to the Federal Debt.  More than 5 times their annual income to the Medicare Debt.

And the budget deficits, even after cosuming the trust funds, is still looking at over $1,000,000,000 per year.

But look on the bright side.  As of next week, we all own 72% of General Motors.

Tags: Debt