If the federal government were a bank, it would be shut down

I came across a press release from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and was quite stunned by its  veracity.

Here's the lead sentence.

"The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) cannot render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other limitations."


It basically says the federal government doesn't have enough internal and external financial controls for an auditing agency like the GAO to even given an opinion (much less a good or bad opinion) about the accuracy of its financial statements.

In other words, if the federal government were a bank, it would likely be shut down. There's not an accounting way to tell if the financial statements are accurate or tell us anything.

Here's the statement.

 Read and be amazed. Or scared. Eikes!