EP 957 America’s Federal Government is Broke: Does Anyone Care?

 It’s true.  The headline in Fortune on-line screamed “The Treasury Just Declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it.” Well maybe the media missed it, but Congress and the President also have been asleep at the nation’s wheel on this issue for a very long time. The Treasury’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released just a few weeks ago, show $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025.  And, folks, that’s just the public debt which you can see above the waterline.  When you add about the implied obligations to citizens going forward, like Social Security and Medicare obligations, the roughly $41 trillion in debt rises to around $100 trillion.  It is mind blowing.  So, what can the federal government do?  Simply put, it could curb spending, raise taxes or hope that economic growth can grow our way out of this mess.  Or you can look away, keep printing money and continue borrowing, until the interest payments on the debt wreck the economy or borrowers scatter to the hills.  We’re on the verge.  Our guest today, the Honorable David Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States and CEO of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).  His words are clear and provocative as to the hole we have dug for ourselves. He thinks we need a good old talking to, as the citizenry, about our problem.  Will anyone listen?  You can begin today with this podcast.

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