My latest column at the Christian Science Monitor takes a crack at this perennial question. Short version: You ought to add about $4.6 trillion to whatever debt figure you are using. Why? Because the United States has about $7.3 trillion in non-debt liabilities (mostly pension and health benefits), offset by about 2.7 trillion in assets. These numbers aren’t perfect–for [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Accounting’
How Much Does the United States Really Owe?
Posted in Budget, tagged Accounting, Budget, Debt on January 27, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Groupon’s Revenue Measure Shrinks More Than 50%
Posted in Business, Technology, tagged Accounting, Business, Groupon, Internet on September 24, 2011 | 3 Comments »
About a month ago, I remarked on Groupon’s explosive revenue growth (and its equally impressive cost growth). The company revised its financial results yesterday, and the revenue picture looks less explosive. In the latest update of its S-1 registration statement, Groupon reported $393 million in Q2 revenues. That’s a remarkable figure for such a young company but a far [...]
Tax Loopholes, Wealth Destruction, and Health Reform
Posted in Budget, Finance, Health, tagged Accounting, Health, Taxes on March 28, 2010 | 18 Comments »
AT&T, Caterpillar, Deere, and Verizon garnered headlines last week (and an unwelcome summons to Capitol Hill) for announcing that a provision in the recent health care legislation would result in substantial accounting write downs. AT&T, for example, told the SEC that it expects to take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter because the [...]
The Spectre of Creative Bookkeeping
Posted in Budget, International, tagged Accounting, Budget, Debt, Deficit, Europe, Greece on February 22, 2010 | 3 Comments »
A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of creative bookkeeping. In an article in this morning’s Wall Street Journal (“Debt Deals Haunt Europe“), Charles Forelle and Susanne Craig provide more examples of the “aggressive” bookkeeping that European nations have deployed to satisfy the deficit and debt targets of the Growth and Stability Pact. Greece, [...]
How Governments Hide Their Liabilities
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Accounting, Budget, Debt, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Greece on February 14, 2010 | 10 Comments »
In my testimony to the Senate Budget Committee the other day, I recommended that Congress set specific fiscal targets for bringing our out-of-control deficits and debt under control. My particular suggestion? Get the publicly-held debt down to 60% of GDP in 2020. By budgeting standards, that makes for a great bumper sticker: “60 in 20“. [...]
Counterintuitive Accounting: Ambac Edition
Posted in Finance, tagged Accounting, Finance on November 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Earlier today, Ambac Financial Group (a big bond insurer) reported that it earned more than $2 billion in the third quarter, or $7.58 per share. As reported over at Marketwatch, these must be among the lowest quality earnings in accounting history: Ambac Financial Group reported a $2.19 billion quarterly profit Wednesday as the company got [...]
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