Federal off-budget items include... Medicare and Social Security

From an op-ed piece in the Washington Post:

General Motors made its first retirement promises to workers in 1950. Under the accounting rules of the time, GM did not have to recognize the current cost of these future promises, as they were considered immaterial to the company’s operations... Forty-two years later, Americans’ longer life spans and increasingly expensive health care had dramatically increased the cost... Seventeen years later, these retirement promises were a major factor in GM filing for bankruptcy.

Given this history, consider the Treasury Department’s decision to not accrue for Social Security and Medicare promises. The current cost of these programs is calculated each year by the Government Accountability Office, and described in great detail in appendices. But Treasury’s “Citizen’s Guide” to the GAO financials does not accrue for Social Security or Medicare promises, even though it does accrue for the cost of retirement promises to federal employees and veterans.

This decision is embraced by virtually every one of our elected leaders and accepted by virtually all of our journalists. The $1.3 trillion budget deficit would be $4.2 trillion if the change in the current cost of Social Security and Medicare promises during fiscal 2011 were included. Why is this cost excluded?...

...because the government can rescind its Social Security and Medicare promises, it does not have to recognize their current costs, even though they are material to its financial condition...

Is it acceptable that our leaders are able to promise trillions of dollars to the voters but do not have to recognize the cost because their promises can be rescinded

There's more at the Washington Post.