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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (17011)	4/18/2010 12:17:35 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42652

Of course not...a future liability is a potential debt. If you have a debt you have a liability, but if you have a liability you don't necessarily have a debt yet. You totally do not understand the concept. An "unfunded liability" is not a "future liability" and it is not a "potential debt". A liability of any kind is a debt as of RIGHT NOW. This moment. Look at any corporate balance sheet -- you'll find that Long Term Debt (which is not required to be paid for years into the future) is listed as a "liability". One and the same. ANY liability is, by definition, a debt -- i.e., a future drain on assets. Terms for repayment -- when paid, how paid, the currency in which paid, the interest for forbearance, can all be different, but all are required to be "paid" with an exchange of some asset for the liability at a future date. A liability is a debt (even the more esoteric items like deferred tax liabilities, unfunded pension liabilities, other deferred credits, etc.) A "liability" is, by definition, a "future" obligation. All liabilities are, therefore, "future" liabilities (meaning, they are paid at some point in the future). A "potential debt" is something totally different, typically referred to as a contingent liability -- that is, one which may or may not become a liability. An unfunded liability is money that is owed today for which there are no assets available with which to pay the amounts as they come due. When I first began trying to explain this concept to you -- some years ago -- you didn't even acknowledge the existence of unfunded liabilities. While I'm please you now do, it would be great if you actually understood what the terms means. Obviously, you aren't even in the ballpark yet. Keep working on it.