I recently came across this website that should be of particular interest to all Mainers–The Institute fro Truth in Accounting.  In a nutshell, they have discovered that current budgeting practices by the federal government, as well as in the 50 states, has lead to a massive understatement in actual government liabilities.  For example, the federal debt that we are all most familiar with is around $11.3 trillion.  However, when you add in other debt such as government employee pensions, Social Security and Medicare then the real debt is more like a staggering $61.2 trillion.  Their overall study can be found here.  For a review of Maine’s budgetary practices, go here.