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 numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.
” Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
“ 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
Whew! I’m glad they got that all worked out to our benefit, aren’t you? I feel better already.
Saving this one to post to Facebook later.
Obviously, the Jones family need to get a faster Xerox machine.
” Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
“ 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
Whew! I’m glad they got that all worked out to our benefit, aren’t you? I feel better already.
That is the ONLY way Mr and Mrs Average American will understand the budget.
Excellent post. And remember that Boehner said he got 98% of what he wanted. That means he thinks it was close to a perfect deal. He should be hanged with those words during primary season.