Realcent.org

Subject: USA Budget 101

This rather brilliantly cuts thru all the political doublespeak we get.
It puts it into a much better perspective.
Lesson # 1:
* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's now remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:
* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts: $385
Got It ???
OK now Lesson # 2:

Here's another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:
Let's say, You come home from work and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood....and your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.
What do you think you should do ...... Raise the ceilings, or pump out the crap?

Your choice is coming Nov. 2012. Make sure you vote to pump out ALL the crap, even your own sacred "can do no harm" senator and representative...........

Two terrible analogies. The government is not a household and pretending the budgets should be approached in the same way is ridiculous.
The Debt Ceiling is about debts already incurred. To use your household analogy--it is bills you already owe. Not paying them should not be an option. Address future spending/revenues if you want, but not paying current bills should not even be an option.

Further, if I come home to sewage up to the ceiling, I'd pump it out. And if I didn't have the cash to pay, I'd put it on a credit card.

I think the primary point is the tiny level of budget cuts compared to the federal budget. It is political theater and nothing else.

$385 compared to $38,200? Why have any cuts at all?


Basically everyone in office is completely incompetent and needs to be removed.

stevkc wrote:Two terrible analogies. The government is not a household and pretending the budgets should be approached in the same way is ridiculous.
The Debt Ceiling is about debts already incurred. To use your household analogy--it is bills you already owe. Not paying them should not be an option. Address future spending/revenues if you want, but not paying current bills should not even be an option.

Further, if I come home to sewage up to the ceiling, I'd pump it out. And if I didn't have the cash to pay, I'd put it on a credit card.

I agree. The analogy is a little off, but that is part of the point. The average household doesn't have its own personal bank which allows it to draw on unlimited loans at around 3%, most of which are financed from money coming out of the printing press in the bank's basement. And you don't think that Government should limit its spending to tax revenues? Talk about ridiculous.