Your Share of the Local Public Pension Costs: $14K

State and local governments have long underfunded pensions in order to spend lavishly elsewhere. A recent study shows how much the average household owes to now pay these public employee pensions. (This does NOT even include the federal pensions, Social Security and Medicare.)

The result is a growing wave of pension shortfalls that threatens to wash over many local governments in the near future, the report said. The authors calculated that each household in the 50 cities and counties they studied owes an average of $14,165 to current and past government employees for their pensions.

That's scary, especially because not every family pays taxes, so those that do have to actually pay a much higher share. And at the federal level? Remember Obama's nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill (not counting all the other ones)? Every $1 trillion translates into roughly $10K in household debt - and since only 50% pay taxes, it's closer to $20K for those that pay taxes. Of course, if you're in a higher bracket, this figure is way too low.

So cheer up. Obama will only have added $80-100K in average (federal) household debt in his first term. Hope and change.