Though the Bush Administration's official budget lists the national debt and deficit as being incredibly high, they are actually far worse than reported, according to Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)....The true national debt is $50 trillion, not the $8.3 trillion Bush reported. That's $156,000 for every citizen, or $375,000 for every working American. This figure has more than doubled in the past five years. We paid $327 billion last year on interest alone.

The Budget says the deficit was $319 billion in 2005 while the Financial Report says it was $760 billion, or over twice as large.

David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, has been clear on the question of cash basis accounting. “Continuing on this unsustainable path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living, and ultimately our national security.”

The Government Accountability Office is working with the Concord Coalition, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation and others to help educate the public about the facts in a professional, nonpartisan way. We hope the media and other opinion leaders do their part to save the future for our children and grandchildren.

DAVID M. WALKER

Comptroller General of the United States

Government Accountability Office

Washington

Although federal law compels the U.S. Treasury to publish the “official” annual report for the United States, it is clear they do not want you to read it. That is why the 2005 report was released during the Christmas holiday, without any press conference and distributed to only a handful of top government officials. There was no media coverage. In fact, very few people in government even know it exists, much less what is in it....Some of the most surprising findings of the report include:

*The true deficit was $760 billion, not the $318.5 billion that is usually reported-- a whopping $441.5 billion difference. It is also not 2.6% of Gross Domestic Product and shrinking, as we are frequently told, but 6.2% and growing rapidly.

*Your share of the national debit is $375,000. This has more than doubled during the five years of the Bush Administration.

*America’s debts and commitments total $49 trillion, and NOT the $8.3 trillion as commonly reported. And, they have doubled in the last five years.

*Our government paid $327 billion in interest in 2005 just to carry the debts we already have, without making any effort to reduce them. This was money that could not be spent on schools, parks, roads, or homeland security because it had to satisfy our creditors.

*During the last five years, President Bush has borrowed more money abroad than all previous American presidents combined.

It is important to note that the material in FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES is not a partisan attack; this is the actual official document of the government issued by the Bush Administration itself.

FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES is the only book that uses modern accounting to give you the answers to your questions about America’s financial position.

“Every businessman and woman in America knows the importance of keeping honest books. If they budgeted the way the U.S. Government does, they’d be in jail,” says Congressman Cooper.

*America’s debts and commitments total $49 trillion, and NOT the $8.3 trillion as commonly reported. And, they have doubled in the last five years.

Uh, I'm no economist, but I think you're misunderstanding how this actually works, Obi_Kwiet. A national debt isn't an amount one country is going to receive from another country under percentage; it's the cumulitative amount of money it owes to all the other countries of the world. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

If we wouldn't have had jackasses (primarily Nixon and FDR) who took us off the gold-backed dollar, we wouldn't be in this problem, at least when it comes to the ability for the US to print unlimited claims to loan out and such.

Then again, if those two wouldn't of done it, someone probably would've. I'm sure Bush would've been tempted to do it when we went into the war.