re: #169 dog philosopher

“unfunded liabilities”

an “unfunded liability” is an estimate of the shortfall in ability to pay obligations in the future based on current revenue forecasts

what wingnuts fail to notice is this:

1) an unfunded liability estimate needs to be for some period in the future

2) the mega gazillion dollars figures usually cited for the unfunded liabilities of the federal government are for a period of the next 75 years

3) the estimates vary widely depending on whether you ask e.g. the social security trustees or the heritage foundation

but wingnuts mostly ignorantly think the unfunded liability amount is due right now

So basically it’s like looking at your total mortgage payments over the 30 year life of the loan as a single figure and wondering where in hell you’re going to come up with that kind of money.