Broke R Us

Sometimes it's hard to wrap your mind around the national financial situation.  This makes it easier.  (I'd like to attribute this but can't remember where I found it.)

Why S&P Downgraded the US:
U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
April budget cut: $38,500,000,000  

Let’s remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:
Annual family income: $21,700
Money the family spent: $38,200
New debt (this year) on the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Budget cuts: $385

 

Comments

[Catherine]

Every time I try to understand the actual figures I get kind of crosseyed. They're too big or my mind is too small. This helped a bit. For sure, we can't go on like this.

[Lorette]

Huh. Even a dumbass should be able to figure out this situation can't go on forever. Guess that says something about our elected officials who are spending our money. (And our children's and grandchildren's money)

On the other hand, if we ran our household budget in this fashion, think of all the new yarn I could buy without any guilt at all!!