Quote from bearice:
THE actual figure of the US' national debt is much higher than the official sum of $US13.4 trillion ($14.3 trillion) given by the Congressional Budget Office, according to analysts cited on Sunday by the New York Post.
"The Government is lying about the amount of debt. It is engaging in Enron accounting," said Laurence Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University and co-author of The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future.
Mr Kotlikoff says the debt is actually $US200 trillion.
Mr Moylan says the number is likely about $US60 trillion.
Read complete article-:
http://www.blacklistednews.com/?news_id=10626
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
but I've seen mentions by respected debt calculators and estimators @ 55+ trillion for the total debt bubble - which was therefore why Bernanke couldn't do shit from day 1.