Treasury Claims The National Debt Is $37 Trillion - The Reality Is Much Worse

Ask officials in the U.S. Department of Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service what America's national debt total is, and they reply that as of September 3, 2025, every man, woman, and child currently living in America today is collectively responsible for $37,274,265,917,907.03. Or more than $37 trillion.

To put that figure into perspective, a stack of 37 trillion dollar bills, with each bill being 0.0043 of an inch thick, would reach more than 2.5 million miles high. That's enough to go to the Moon and back to the Earth 10 times. Or to put it in a more personal perspective, every man, woman, and child in America owes about $110,000.

But as daunting as those figures are, they don't tell whole story. Not even close, according to Truth in Accounting (TIA), a Chicago-based nonprofit devoted to reforming how government calculates and reports its actual debt and related fiscal obligations, such as loan guarantees.

"Truth in Accounting's review of the latest available audited Financial Report of the U.S. Government found its overall financial condition worsened by $4.7 trillion in 2024. Despite this alarming trend, elected officials continue to make financial decisions that have contributed to a mounting debt burden of $158.6 trillion," according to TIA's most recent Financial State of the Union report. "This staggering debt translates to a $974,000 liability for every federal taxpayer, resulting in the federal government receiving a failing grade for its fiscal responsibility."

Why such a yawning gulf between the official and the actual national debt? The reason, according to TIA, is that Treasury Department officials don't include in its national debt calculations benefits such as Social Security and Medicare promised in the future -- but not yet paid.

"The Treasury Department only included a fraction, $241 billion, of the Social Security and Medicare liabilities on the federal balance sheet because unknown to most people, according to government documents, recipients do not have the right to any benefits beyond the benefits to be paid next month, and laws to reduce or stop future benefits can be passed at any time.," TIA reported.

Sheila Weinberg, TIA's founder and chief executive officer, told The Washington Stand that "this method of accounting would be unacceptable for any large corporation, and it obscures the true fiscal challenge the country faces."

Weinberg did not mention it, but the Bible in multiple verses makes clear that God considers dishonest weights and measures to be an abomination. In Leviticus 19:35-36, for example, God tells the Israelites that they "shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just Epah, and a just Hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

The Epah was a measure of something dry like wheat, while a Hin was a measure of volume of a liquid.

Few Americans likely know that the federal government views itself as having no obligation to pay such as Social Security beyond the immediate month.

Weinberg noted that the chief actuary of Social Security, Steve Goss, told "a meeting of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) that 'an overriding uncertainty exists under the Social Security (and all Federal Social Insurance) programs. This is the government's right and ability to alter potential future benefits. Until benefits become due and payable, there is no binding commitment over which a worker has control and so no liability can be recognized.'"

In other words, when it comes to accounting for the financial condition of the federal government, officials only consider what is presently owed this month. The fact that the government has promised hundreds of billions of dollars in future Social Security, Medicare, federal pension, and loan guarantees is ignored, even though citizens count on them, and politicians promise they will be paid.

It's as if a consumer claims on a mortgage application that he or she only owes $500, even though the total debt for that new SUV bought last year is actually $50,000.

The reality, according to Matthew Dickerson, director of Budget Policy for the Economic Policy Innovation Center, is that "the government has promised benefits for entitlement programs without a way to pay for them. Social Security and Medicaid face more than $75 trillion in unfunded liabilities; the amount the government would need in the bank today to cover the promises that have been made for the future."

This approach to government spending means outlays will grow faster than the economy, a situation Dickerson calls "inherently unsustainable." That means, he contends, "The federal government is rapidly running out of fiscal space, which is its ability to borrow without risking a loss of market confidence. The rising debt would make it more difficult for the government to respond to war, recession, or a disaster. Already, the government spends more on interest costs to finance past borrowing than it does on national security."

The Washington Stand requested comment on these matters from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), as well as the ranking Democrats on those panels, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania. None of the four lawmakers responded.

The problem is not limited to the federal government. Despite many states having laws requiring balanced budgets every year, many of them are deeply indebted with unfunded pension obligations, especially to unionized public workers represented by powerful labor unions.

Among the most deeply indebted states, according to data compiled by TIA, are New Jersey ($82.47 billion), Texas ($51.29 billion), Massachusetts ($43.73 billion), Pennsylvania ($40.59 billion), and Connecticut ($34.97 billion). The average for all 50 states is $12.7 billion.

Originally published at The Washington Stand