Judd Gregg: “The first issue I want to talk about is the recent report which came out yesterday from the Medicare trustees which said…”

“The first issue I want to talk about is the recent report which came out yesterday from the Medicare trustees which said that the Medicare trust fund is in dire straits. A lot of us have been talking for a long time about the problems with the entitlement programs we have--specifically Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security--and the fact that these three funds are headed toward a meltdown, which is going to take with them the economy of this country. The practical effect of these three funds in their present spend-out situation is that they have approximately $70 trillion of unfunded liability--$70 trillion over their actuarial life. Now, $1 trillion is a number that a lot of us have a problem comprehending. To try to put that number into perspective, if you took all the taxes paid in the United States since we became a country, I think we have paid about $46 trillion in taxes. If you take the entire net worth of America--all our assets, including all our cars, all our homes, all our stocks--that, again, is in the $45 trillion to $50 trillion net worth.”