Drilldown on USA Inc. Financials... e To analysts looking at USA Inc. as a public corporation, the financials are challenged - Excluding Medicare / Medicaid spending and one-time charges, USA Inc. has supported a 4% average net margin’ over 15 years, but cash flow is deep in the red by negative $1.3 trillion last year (or -$11,000 per household), and net worth2 is negative $44 trillion (or -$371,000 per household). e The main culprits: entitlement programs, mounting debt, and one-time charges - Since the Great Depression, USA Inc. has steadily added “business lines” and, with the best of intentions, created various entitlement programs. Some of these serve the nation’s poorest, whose struggles have been made worse by the financial crisis. Apart from Social Security and unemployment insurance, however, funding for these programs has been woefully inadequate — and getting worse. - Entitlement expenses (adjusted for inflation) rose 70% over the last 15 years, and USA Inc. entitlement spending now equals $16,600 per household per year; annual spending exceeds dedicated funding by more than $71 trillion (and rising). Net debt levels are approaching warning levels, and one-time charges only compound the problem. — Some consider defense spending a major cause of USA Inc.'s financial dilemma. Re-setting priorities and streamlining could yield savings — $788 billion by 2018, according to one recent study*® — perhaps without damaging security. But entitlement spending has a bigger impact on USA Inc. financials. Although defense nearly doubled in the last decade, to 5% of GDP, it is still below its 7% share of GDP from 1948 to 2000. It accounted for 20% of the budget in 2010, but 41% of all government spending between 1789 and 1930. Note: 1) Net margin defined as net income divided by total revenue; 2) net worth defined as assets (ex. stewardship assets like national parks and heritage assets like the Washington Monument) minus liabilities minus the net present value of