Audited financials from the General Accountability Office prove my point. They show that official US government liabilities come to $21.5 trillion. Total assets, including federal lands, national parks, accounts receivable, and the interstate highway system total a little more than $3.2 trillion. The accounts receivable include about $1 trillion or so in student loans – more than 10% of them in default. (And yes, they're actually listed as an "asset.")

In case you're counting, that gives the federal government a net worth of negative $18.3 trillion. (Yes, with a 't.')

But these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg of the federal government's dismal fiscal condition. Boston University Professor of Economics Laurence Kotlikoff has calculated an incredible $222 trillion "fiscal gap" using figures provided by the Congressional Budget Office. Kotlikoff's analysis takes into account future projected government expenditures for unfunded mandates like Social Security, Medicare, and military and federal pensions.