THIS IS NOT THE HOPE I WAS LOOKING FOR: Government liabilities rose $2 trillion in FY 2010: Treasury. “The U.S. government fell deeper into the red in fiscal 2010 with net liabilities swelling more than $2 trillion as commitments on government debt and federal benefits rose, a U.S. Treasury report showed on Tuesday. The Financial Report of the United States, which applies corporate-style accrual accounting methods to Washington, showed the government’s liabilities exceeded assets by $13.473 trillion. That compared with a $11.456 trillion gap a year earlier.”

Just the other day, one of my colleagues told me he was planning a trip to Barbados, “while my dollars will still buy something like that.”