Doug Casey: The U.S. government is officially bankrupt

From Doug Casey, Chairman, Casey Research:
Everyone knows that the U.S. government is bankrupt and has been for many years. But I thought it might be instructive to see what its current cash-flow situation actually is. At least, insofar as it's possible to get a clear picture.
As you know, the so-called Super Committee recently tried to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion and failed completely. To anyone who understands the nature of the political process, the failure was, of course, as predictable as it was shameful. What's even more shameful, though, is that the sought-after $1.5 trillion cut wasn't meant to apply to the annual budget, but to the total budget of the next 10 years – a fact that is rarely mentioned.
Now whenever the chattering classes talk about cuts, it's always about cuts over the course of 10 years. Which is a dodge, partly because most of the supposed cuts will be scheduled for the end of the period, but also because new programs, new emergencies, and hidden contingencies will creep in to offset any announced cuts. So the numbers below aren't a worst case... they're the rosiest possible scenario. People thought I was joking when, asked how bad the Greater Depression was going to be, I answered that it would be worse than even I thought it would be. But I haven't been joking.
To sum up the situation, given its financial condition and the political forces working to worsen it, the U.S. government is facing a completely impossible and irremediable situation. I'm going to try to illustrate that here. But because I'm a perpetual optimist, not a gloom-and-doomer, I'm also going to give you solutions to the purely financial problems – albeit, with some good news and some bad news. The good news is, there actually are solutions. The bad news is...
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