The U.S. Debt Situation – Putting It Into Perspective:

The U.S. Debt Situation – Putting It Into Perspective:

- New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
- Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
- National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
- Budget cut: $ 2,100,000,000,000 ( CBO estimated ) / Annualized over 10 years ($210,000,000,000/ yr)

Looking at the raw numbers, it’s hard to put it into perspective. Most people tend to better grasp numbers and concepts when put into terms that they deal with everyday. So, let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the Spendthrift family:

- Total annual income for the Spendthrift family: $21,700
- Amount of money the Spendthrift family spent: $38,200
- Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
- Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
- Amount cut from the budget: $2,100

So, in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Spendthrift family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $2,100 from its annual budget. What family would “solve” their budget issues by cutting that much from their $38,200 spending; $16,500 more than their income? Right… only the Spendthrift’s! And THIS is what the Spendthrift’s in Congress are trying to sell to us – the American public.