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After today, Apple, Inc. will not be known as the multinational corporation that developed the phone that changed lives or technology as we know it.  They will be known as the company that has more money in the bank than the entire United States Government. Good for Apple, bad for us.

According to the June statement from the U.S. Treasury for June – which is the latest report, the U.S. government had an operating cash balance on Wednesday of $73.8 billion.

According to Apple’s latest earnings report, the iPad extraordinaire had $76.2 billion in cash at the end of June – that’s $2.4 billion more than the U.S. government.  Steve Jobs is giving the U.S. government a run for their money.

Hypothetically, if the U.S. changed it’s mind about China and asked for a bailout from Apple, Steve Jobs would say no:

"We don't let the cash burn a hole in the pocket or make stupid acquisitions," CEO Jobs said last fall. "We'd like to continue to keep our powder dry because we think there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future."

Jobs brings up a point that most successful private sector businesses understand  - do not spend more money than you are taking in.  The U.S. government has failed to understand or follow this, which is why we are in the middle of a debt crisis in the first place.  A sobering fact: our national debt is $14.4 trillion and we have $73.8 billion to our name.  To put this into perspective, entitlement spending known as mandatory spending topped $2.1 trillion for FY 2012. 

Social Security - $761 billion
Medicare - $468 billion
Medicaid - $269 billion
TARP - $13 billion
All other mandatory programs - $598 billion. Food Stamps, Unemployment Compensation, Child Nutrition and Tax Credits, Supplemental Security for the Disabled and Student Loans.

If the United States were to use the actual cash it has in the bank, it could only pay 9.7% of Social Security for this FY 2012.  In other words, The U.S. has enough cash to pay almost 10% of Social Security – which means, we can’t afford any other program including Defense, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

When President Obama says we need to increase taxes to pay for these beloved programs like Medicare and Social Security – he ought to think about how is going to afford them with only $73.8 billion.  Obama continues to throw stones at private companies that have more money in the bank than his entire government – no wonder we are in this debt crisis.