This is why the estimates of total US government debt are in the ballpark of 50 trillion USD, instead of the official almost 20 trillion. They're on the hook f

This is why the estimates of total US government debt are in the ballpark of 50 trillion USD, instead of the official almost 20 trillion. They're on the hook for all the unfunded liabilities like federal pensions, and are expected to take on bad state and municipality debt, much of which is also pensions. Puerto Rico is the most recent example of this, and it is why - funny as it may be for other reasons - California will not secede.