Audit the Books!!!

The first thing President-elect Barack Obama should do to get the economy back on track is publicize the financial record of the Bush Administration. Every business knows that "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it."

Auditing the books is standard practice because CEOs want to know where they stand financially. And no one wants to be blamed for the mistakes of prior management. If the public learns about President Bush's mismanagement after he is safely back in Crawford, Texas, the bad news could cripple the Obama Administration. People blame the messenger.

Fortunately, such an audit will be released on December 15th. It is the Financial Report of the U.S. Government, issued by the U.S. Treasury and signed by Secretary Henry Paulson. It is the only official government document that uses audited, accrual accounting to describe America's financial position.

It is also one of Washington's best-kept secrets. Neither Bush nor Paulson has mentioned it publicly because it reveals national deficits and debts that are much larger than the public has been told. The media have unwittingly participated in the cover-up.

Last year's Report said that the true national debt or "fiscal gap" was not $4 trillion, or even $9 trillion, but $53 trillion. Understanding the difference between these numbers is vital. Does America have a bad cold, the flu, or is it cancer?

We owe $4 trillion if you don't count the $5 trillion that the federal government has already borrowed from the Social Security "trust fund." Many economists say that you don't need to count intra-governmental borrowing, and politicians love the smaller figure. But seniors will demand their full Social Security checks. To protect them, we must recognize that we have borrowed the full $9 trillion.

Even the $9 trillion figure is misleading if you add this year's bailouts and war expenses. The official U.S. debt ceiling was recently raised to $11.3 trillion. In addition, Medicare is facing a shortfall of $30 trillion that the usual Washington budgets fail to recognize. This, plus other entitlement program shortfalls, means that our true fiscal gap is $53 trillion. And that is a "present value" number, meaning that we need $53 trillion today earning interest so that we can have even more money for the benefits that have been promised.

Is your individual share of the national debt $30,000 or $175,000? The Financial Report lays it out in the same annual-report format used by public companies. You get your favorite company's annual report; why not your favorite country's?

The Bush Administration does not want you to know that it borrowed more money in the last eight years than all U.S. Presidents combined had borrowed in the previous 219 years. It also borrowed more money from foreigners that all previous Presidents combined.

The demands of retiring Baby Boomers are not Bush's fault, but his administration has a dismal record there as well. The Financial Report says that our fiscal gap was $20 trillion at the beginning of the Bush Administration but $53 trillion today, a whopping $33 trillion increase.

The annual federal budget deficit is not a few hundred billion dollars but closer to $2.5 trillion if you count the rate at which our entitlement obligations are increasing. The problem is metastasizing at a rate almost ten times faster than the Bush Administration admits.

The financial outlook for the federal government is so grim that the two top credit rating agencies on Wall Street, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, are projecting that the U.S. Treasury bond itself could lose its AAA rating by 2012. This means an increase in interest rates that could damage the economy.

Congress has been busy applying band-aids to these gaping wounds. For example, Medicare needs $5 trillion today in order to pay doctors what they are accustomed to receiving. Uncle Sam doesn't have that kind of money, so Congress is applying six-month or one-year patches that do nothing to solve the problem. For several years, the Bush Administration has not even tried to save physicians -- a core Republican constituency -- from a projected 42% pay cut.

We are running out of band-aids, and our fiscal sickness is spreading. The financial legacy of the Bush Administration cannot be denied. The only question is who will tell the public the truth, and when.

Comments

[schatsie]

We need to be able to AUDIT THE Department of Defense, no more no bid contracts, no more payments without proper invoices, no more tax dodges... Deduct the taxes from their payments just like they deduct the taxes from their employees... Then when they file the tax return they can get the money back....WHY DO YOU THINK HALLIBURTON MOVED TO DUBAI?

[schatsie]

AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY WE NEED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE NOW... WE CANNOT KEEP spending 16% of our GDP on healthcare, not with hyperinflation coming down the pike... We need that money for other priorities including education and infrastructure....

[LaughingLast]

QUESTION:
----------------
This idea is excellent. Does anyone know if Obama's team monitors HuffPost? I always wonder if great ideas like this actually make it to the desks of the decisionmakers.

[PolishFarmer]

In addition to auditing the President's "books", let's take a look at the Federal Reserve - there are no whistle-blower protections. Therefore, if Kevin Warsh (a Fed Governor) has office conversation with his father-in-law, Ron Lauder about the decisions and moves of the FRB and that conversation is overheard by Kevin's secretary, who reports the crime, the secretary is not protected.

In a situation where an employee of the FRB is aware and has evidence that certain technology systems within the FRB are flawed and that employee reports such; when they get fired, they have no whistle-blower protection. I have first-hand knowledge of having reported this situation and getting fired.

So, when we look at the Bush years, let's also look at the real scam and cause of the financial crisis.

[CaptD]

You make an excellent point, universal protection for whistle blowers should be made a Constitutional Amendment!

After all they are helping America eliminate MAJOR WASTE and or HUGE GREED!!

[aznurse]

Great Idea!!!

[econ1]

Congress actually allocates the funds, but that doesn't let Bush off the hook...he didn't veto a single spending bill until the last few months (while opening every other other financial valve he or Congress could find).
I think the citizens should get an accounting of where the money is going and projections for a few years down the road.
The only "nice" thing about the bailouts is it is letting us see all the folks who want to dine at others expense.

[rogwheel]

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you puke" GW 3:16

[Vinca]

I like your comment, IF WE KNEW HALF THE TRUTH ABOUT GOV AND WALL STREET CORRUPTION, WE WOULD HAVE A REVOLUTION

[WhoneedsGoverment]

Do Republicans read books??

.

[LuckyBlessed]

Lee Atwater claimed he read numerous books every month. Per a PBS expose, he had someone read the books and do clif notes for him. They said Bush Jr. learned alot about shady win at any cost to get more money for friends strategy from Atwater working for his daddy. Remember the Willie Horton ads?

[TheIndependenceParty]

I would throw "barricades" up at all ends of K Street. Lobbyists have so skewed political discourse and conduct in America, principally to augment and secure the money to be spent by government on the goods and services the lobbyists represent.

Rather than objectivity and transparency in bidding, ... lobbyists secure contracts at exorbitant prices, and virtually no oversight on the purchases.

In short, Lobbyists circumvent the safeguards that should be in place over procurement. Sounds illegal, ... and it would be, if there were a law banning it, and there are already many. Why not ban the role of lobbying altogether. I can write my congressman, and so can any CEO. So why should a "Lobbyist" speak for the CEO and be paid from company funds? Foreign interests hire lobbyists. What right have they to sway our government. That is what diplomats are for! Hard as I try, I can not see a legitimate reason for lobbyists to exist.

[Rudderman]

No question Obama's plate is already over-crowded. Still, I love this idea, especially considering that the Right-wing­nuts--Limb­augh, Hannity, Savage et al--are already blaming him for the mess were in. (I live outside Boston and it's amazing how many people here are convinced Obama will bring the country to ruin.) Exposing the real cost of the Bush administration's decisions can't hurt.. While facts are of no interest to the hard-core Right, anything Obama can do to call out those truly responsibe for our country's slide into recession and debt is a step in the right direction.

[rmm4402]

This is my 3rd attempt at a post..... if I am doing something wrong - let me know.

My point is that this is huge....... yet I can't fathom why Congress has kepth this a secret. With all due respect to Rep Cooper - why are we just finding out about this now? Where has he been ?????

I am all for accounting. It would be interesting to see these year end status reports for the last 30 years.... it might illuminate how we got ourselves into this mess.

Last time I checked the Constitiution... Congress appropriates and spends the money. As far as I am concerned - they are guilty of violating the public trust.

[Vinca]

rmm4402:I THINK THE REASON< SO MUCH CORRUPTION EXISTS IN GOV. IS MAYBE EACH NEW ADMIN< COVERS FOR THE LAST ONE

[rmm4402]

Agreed ........... sort of seems that way........but not just the Executive Branch - more like the Legislative branch - they're the one's that spend the $.......... some of them have been there quite sometime.

I'd like to why Mr Cooper has waited this long to reveal this......

[naschkatze]

Oh do you ever speak for my husband and me! I was just wondering yesterday if the amount in red the Post Office published was not due to its own incompetence but to the Bush administration shifting the money from where it should have gone to its own pet projects like the Iraq War. And I really want an accounting of where "faith-based initiative" money has gone. We don't have to have show trials--tr­ansparency on what the Bush administration has done with all our tax dollars should shame Bush and The Plantation for all eternity.

[jwb]

Transparency? Bush administration? You're not going to get it, unless you mean something like this

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-omen-decapitation/3505044675/?icid=VIDURVENT03

[naschkatze]

Bush? Who's talking Bush? I'm talking Obama.

[frank1569]

Wrong - that's the second thing that should be done. The first thing that needs to be done is cut cut cut spending ASAP. In the middle of a raging fire, ya don't stop to count the hoses. If Congress can pass a Bank Robber Reward Bill nearly overnight, then they can slice and dice and reallocate the budget just as quickly.

Halve the Pentagon budget straight-up - close the 700+ military bases and golf resorts and sell/lease the assets, end the "war on drugs," cancel "star wars" and all space-weapons programs and all new nuke programs and, of course, get the f**k out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Close all off-shore tax shelters and wealthy-only loopholes, collect all outstanding oil lease royalties, and strip out all budget pork and waste.

Then take that trillion+ saved and plow it into job creation via infrastructure building/repair and green technologies by way of private sector real-but-fast bid contracts with built-in 4% profits. Toss in some training for those who wanna join the party but lack the knowledge/skills - and be sure to streamline all processes for expedition.

In the very least, the economic tumble would quickly level off - and confidence would rebound as we show the world that America is finally being run by actual, non-delusional, responsible adults.

[rustyaustin]

That makes sense, which is why it will never happen.

[395spoons]

Excellent!

[PaHairO]

Rep. Cooper:

EXCELLENT idea, sir. I support you 100%.

The REPUGS would love nothing more than to slip away while we're staring dreamy-eyed at our new paradigm. Don't let it happen, America. GRAVELY SERIOUS CRIMES HAVE BEEN PERPETRATED.

lil' sarah, et al, are pathetic distractions. DON'T FALL FOR IT. EYES ON THE PRIZE, after all ...