The Frightening Future in the Market Meltdown

The Frightening Future in the Market Meltdown

Lawrence Kotlikoff, writing for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revealed last year that the U.S. faces $65 trillion (yes, that's a "t") in "unfunded liabilities," debts it has committed to pay but for which there is no identified source of funding. Kotlikoff suggests that the U.S. may be actuarially bankrupt, that it cannot pay its obligations under any reasonable scenario. It borrows $2.5 billion every day from the rest of the world just to keep the lights on. That amounts to 85% of the entire world's net savings, an astonishing, unprecedented dependency that simply cannot - will not - be sustained.