The debt ceiling conversation begins and ends with poor accounting standards. 

Let's look at the terminology used. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has declared we are in a "debt issuance suspension period." This is a fancy way to say, "We have already reached our credit limit but are using accounting gimmicks to pretend we haven’t.” 

The government’s budgeting process uses cash-basis accounting while ignoring the Treasury Department's annual comprehensive financial report. In a nutshell, this flawed system means they don't consider how they will pay for their proposed spending and didn't even have the correct numbers when they enacted the budget.

According to Secretary Yellen, the Treasury Department uses "extraordinary measures" to allow the government to continue its operations for a limited period. "Extraordinary measures" is code for "we don’t have the money, so we will just stop paying into the retirement funds of federal employees, like the Postal Benefits Fund or the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, just to name a few.” Creative accounting maneuvers are being used to skip these and other payments that must be paid back with interest, adding more to our national debt. It's an accounting shell game.

READ MORE HERE.

"The solutions are simple; the politics are hard.

Two months ago, I criticized the happy talk from Hartford because it obscures the financial challenges our state faces. Under nearly every objective analysis, Connecticut’s fiscal condition is deteriorating and to pretend things are fine does not serve the residents of this great state. According to Truth in Accounting, Connecticut is part of the Bottom Five “Sinkhole States” for taxpayer burden ranking 49th out of the 50 states. (Thanks, New Jersey!)"

"Isn't it reasonable to expect that state governments' financial reporting have full accountability and thus, receive clean audit reports? The fact is that often, they do not. There are many reasons this happens, and this article explains those which occurred in the 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports of the 50 states. The reason 2021 is used for this review is that not all states have released their 2022 reports. A follow-up article will be written when this occurs."