Federal Budget 101

[pitzerwm]

The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know
how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the
2011 federal budget into perspective:

U.S. income: $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
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

Total annual income for the Jones family: 521,700
Amount of money the,Jones 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: $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table
and agreed to cut §385 from its annual budget. What family would cut §385 of spending in order to solve
§16,500 in deficit spending?

It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this, the Jones family has §142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the
equivalent of the national debt).

 

[mac]

It's simply nuts. The government assumes, unfortunately correctly, that the general populace is too stupid to grasp what a trillion is. So when they announce they are cutting the budget 50 billion, most people are thinking they really are cutting. In fact the freaking budget is booked to increase 7% every year at a minimum. Not to worry though. The president and Nancy Pelosi say that unemployment benefits increase jobs, so when we are all out of work and on the dole, think of the jobs that will be created !