Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports - CAFRs

Finance is usually pretty boring stuff, so most of us would rather not spend our free time looking over monotonous financial statements, but what if it meant the return of trillions of dollars to the American people? CAFRs are the government's own financial reports that reveal - in disturbing detail - the extent to which the wealth and power of the people of this country have been systematically usurped by government corporations at the federal, state, and local levels. Most Americans, however, have no idea what CAFRs are. Without some basic knowledge of CAFRs and what they contain, we will continue to keep ourselves in the dark by never fully understanding our government or our current situation. And if we don't do something about it, we will remain slaves to these bad accounting practices.

Our general ignorance of this subject is likely due to the amount of attention given to budgets instead of CAFRs by the modern media and the different levels of government. This is despite the fact that budgets don't tell us the whole story regarding the financial condition of government corporations. The budget merely shows how much revenue the government takes in (income from taxes) and how much is spent on services (expenditures), but it does not show the complete financial condition of government corporations. This is where the CAFR comes in. CAFRs contain information about income, expenditures, and complete financial holdings, and this is what makes them so important.

How the System Works

When the annual budget is prepared, it estimates how much money is required to cover expenditures and how much income the state is likely to receive. If the expenditures are less than its income, the surplus is converted into cash or investments at the end of the year, and it is not considered as income in the next year’s budget. All previous budget surpluses not included in the budget are still accessible via the CAFR. If the expenditures are more than its income, then the state attempts and usually succeeds to raise taxes to cover the shortfall. The result of these governmental accounting practices is a large amount of money that has been completely removed from the budget process.

The budget is still largely relied upon by citizens, government employees, and even many elected officials for information regarding the financial condition of the government, but the budget does not accurately demonstrates this condition since the previous year’s budget surpluses are not included in it. Only when the budget is analyzed in conjunction with the state’s CAFR does the state’s complete financial condition come to light. Most citizens, however, are unaware of what a CAFR is and what it contains.

In this way, the government has perpetuated its own growth and increased its financial holdings under the guise of - or in the process of - conducting legitimate government business.

A close look at the federal "government's" CAFRs demonstrates the disparity of wealth evident between us and our "government."

• Approximately two thirds of the "government's" income does not come from taxes.


• Budgets misleadingly show deficits but CAFRs consistently demonstrate large surpluses.


• The "government" holds at least $60 trillion dollars in assets that could be utilized to eliminate nearly every form of taxation and provide citizens a yearly bonus.


• Over 70% of this country's wealth is concentrated in the hands of this corporation and not the people.

Legalized Robbery

It is certainly legitimate for the government to tax if there is a genuine need and the majority is in agreement, but deliberately and systematically misleading the people into believing that taxation barely pays for government services is reprehensible in light of the information contained in CAFRs. Government corporations hold enough wealth to generate excessive cash flow that could replace a portion of the money that we pay in taxes. We have unnecessarily relinquished far too much of our property, and this injustice simply cannot stand.

"This can't be true!"

Many skeptics will not believe that the information presented on this page is accurate and that this type of large-scale misdirection is occurring. Skepticism is a good thing, but do not dismiss the information on this or any other page without first investigating the facts. Useful information can be found here if you choose to review the CAFRs.