U.S finances are scarier than ever before

October is the spookiest month of the year, but this October, things are getting even spookier. The national debt has reached $120 trillion. This is $98 trillion higher than the published national debt. The published national debt does not include unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises.

The national Taxpayer Burden is $786,000, this is what each taxpayer would have to pay to get the United States out of debt. Truth in Accounting (TIA) calculates this number by subtracting money needed to pay bills and divide it by the estimated number of taxpayers. A Taxpayer Surplus divides the available assets by taxpayers after the state’s bills have been paid. Only 10 states and 12 out of the 75 most populated cities have a Taxpayer Surplus.

The United States owes $34.9 trillion in promised Social Security benefits. This means that the U.S. has promised $34.9 trillion in benefits, but has not set any money aside to pay for these benefits. Social Security has depleted by $3 trillion since 2014. In 2010, Social Security shifted by paying out more in benefits than it collected from taxes. Many fear that Social Security will not be around for the young or unborn. The U.S. also owes $49 trillion in unfunded Medicare promises. Both of these programs are impacted by rising life expectancy, as Social Security is expected to pay out more as people live longer.

State debt looks just as scary; 40 states did not have enough money to pay their FY 2018 bills. The total debt for the 50 states was $1.5 trillion, a large contributor to this is underfunded pensions. State pension debt accounts for $824 billion, and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) totaled $664.6 billion. Even Alaska’s, TIA’s top-ranked state, pensions are only 62.2 percent funded.

The national, state, and city governments all needs to make changes if it wants to alleviate the debt they have accrued. November is the month to be thankful, unfortunately, with the national debt being this high, as well as the underfunded pensions, OPEB, Social Security and Medicare it is hard to look past it and be grateful.