USAFacts Releases 2022 Government 10-K, Providing Americans With an In-Depth Look at The Nation's Finances

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Apr 19, 2022, 09:45 ET

Sixth annual report provides citizens with the only source to study the spending and outcomes of government programs

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- USAFacts, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative that is committed to making government data easy to access and understand, announces the publication of its sixth annual Government 10-K. Released every year to coincide with Tax Day, the report is designed to help Americans judge the state of the nation. It's modeled on the form for assessing performance, financial condition, and risk factors that publicly traded US companies must annually submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Accessible US government metrics like this 10-K empower citizens to bring unbiased facts to their daily discussions," said USAFacts founder and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "With midterm elections coming this fall, the facts are crucial to having educated debates and making informed choices as voters."

"We believe Americans have a right to transparent information about how the government spends taxpayer dollars to benefits citizens," said USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald. "The 10-K format is a one-of-a-kind tool, and we believe the government should use this format to transparently report its actions back to the country. USAFacts spends six months compiling and reporting this holistic data so that Americans will have a clearer picture of how the government serves them."

The 2022 Government 10-K report features an open letter from Ballmer to American citizens — also called the nation's shareholders. The letter includes the following insights:

Enrollment in government programs is growing, but costs are growing even faster. Partly driven by the expansions allowed by 2010's Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (or CHIP) enrollment grew 48% between 2009 and 2019. Yet, Medicaid and CHIP payments rose 90%, to $298 billion.
The nation experienced a long period of economic expansion post-Great Recession. Median wages increased between 2009 and 2019, outpacing inflation by 1%.
Children escaped poverty — but more fell into homelessness. There were 10.45 million children in poverty in 2019, down by 5 million from 2009. At least 1.39 million children were homeless in 2019, up from 915,000 in 2009.
US life expectancy dropped due to COVID-19. By the end of 2020, COVID-19 caused US life expectancy to fall by 1.8 years.
We're becoming more educated — but that opportunity is not reaching everyone. The percentage of adults 25 or older with at least some college experience rose to 62%. However, differences by race persist from grade school to post-secondary education.
Our roads are full of delays. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed on November 6, 2021. The10-K report reveals an increasing share of roads are in unsatisfactory condition and congestion is getting worse — delays on urban highways increased 11 hours per commuter, per year, over the past decade.
Natural disasters grew more severe and expensive. Billion-dollar natural disasters increased 75% over the decade: 2019 was the fifth consecutive year in which 10 or more separate billion-dollar disasters occurred.

The 2022 Government 10-K puts the spotlight on the impact of key legislation, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which extended relief to private citizens and domestic corporations. Compiled with data from more than 90,000 different government entities, the report primarily covers 2009 to 2019 with state and local financial data delayed due to the slow nature of government reporting.

To learn more about the organization and its annual reports, including the recently released State of the Union in Numbers, visit USAFacts.org.

About USAFacts
USAFacts is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative making government data easy for all Americans to access and understand. USAFacts provides engaging visuals on data and trends in US spending, revenue, demographics, and policy outcomes to help Americans ground public debate in facts. It produces topical content throughout the year and has produced annual reports and 10-Ks on the nation. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @USAFacts, and sign up for the data-driven newsletter at USAFacts.org.

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Lippe Taylor
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SOURCE USAFacts