From the "World Gone Insane" File

Madness. Sheer, unadulterated madness.

Via Veronique de Rugy at NRO we have this little gem:

"According to USA Today, this $546,668 per Household in federal obligations represents a 12% increase or an extra $55,000 a household to cover rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement benefits, the national debt, and other government promises."

USA Today reports that key federal obligations are:

• Social Security. It will grow by 1 million to 2 million beneficiaries a year from 2008 through 2032, up from 500,000 a year in the 1990s, its actuaries say. Average benefit: $12,089 in 2008.

• Medicare. More than 1 million a year will enroll starting in 2011 when the first Baby Boomer turns 65. Average 2008 benefit: $11,018.

•Retirement programs. Congress has not set aside money to pay military and civil servant pensions or health care for retirees. These unfunded obligations have increased an average of $300 billion a year since 2003 and now stand at $5.3 trillion. . . .

That's quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

"We have a huge implicit mortgage on every household in America — except, unlike a real mortgage, it's not backed up by a house," says David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, the government's top auditor."

It's enough to make one want to whip out the Uzi. Of course, you couldn't possibly even identify, much less wipe out, enough of the perpetrators of this outrage to make a difference. What to do? Your guess is as good as mine...