We know that the employment situation in the US is terrible with 70% of jobs created since January 2009 being low-paying, part-time jobs.
And median household income keeps declining.
After reading James Hamilton’s horrifying paper on the size of off-balance sheet liabilities for America, I thought I would put together the following table to you could see the household share of government debt, entitlements and The Federal Reserve Balance Sheet.
householdshare
There are 115,310,000 households in America.
Government spending in the U.S. as of Q2 2013 was a little over $5.8 trillion. That equates to $50,328.68 per household.
The median household income was reported in February at $51,404. So, median household income is almost equal to government spending (98%). So, governments spend almost dollar-per-dollar of median household income.
SNAP (food stamps) is given to 20% of American households. And since the beginning of 2013, more than 530,000 workers have been added to the Social Security disability program’s rolls. More than 8.9 million Americans are receiving disability benefits through Social Security, with an average benefit of $1,129 per month.
SNAP (or food stamps) have risen 57% since December 2008 while Social Security disability has risen by 18%.
snapdis
The liabilities for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amount to $4.9 trillion, according to economist James Hamilton. That equates to $42,494.15 per household. This is especially troubling since the US homeownership rate is 65% and 60% of home sales are made with all-cash.
Total off balance sheet liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, FDIC, Fannie and Freddie) amount to $70 trillion. The household share of this staggering liability is $607,059.23.
IN ADDITION to off-balance sheet liabilities for the government, they have borrowed $16,738,484,642,517 {(or $16.7 trillion) to date. Household share of Federal government borrowing? $145,160.74!
The Federal Reserve has grown their balance sheet to $3,603,348,000,000 (or $3.6 trillion). Now, while taxpayers are liable for losses on The Fed Balance Sheet, it is doubtful that all $3.6 trillion will be lost. Still, the household share of The Fed’s Balance Sheet is $31,249.22.
Bear in mind that almost 50% of Americans pay no income taxes. You do the math. It is too appalling to think about.
So, if we combine the household’s share of off-balance sheet liabilities and public debt, we get $752,219.97.
In mortgage terms (Debt-to-income or DTI), the household’s DTI is 14.63. Of course, we don’t count the liabilities owed by households as part of a mortgage DTI calculation. Otherwise, very few would ever qualify for a mortgage (when 28% is the max DTI).
Even if we divide the household share by 30 years, the DTI would be 0.49 or 49%. Sorry, too high to qualify! But you owe the government an $800,000 house in exchange for your share of debt and entitlements.
What’s in your safe?
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* While James Hamilton is a well-regarded econometrician, I have not validated his estimates of the costs for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
