Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The debt ceiling deal explained without the zeros

We have a $38,500,000,000,000 Budget

Let�s remove nine zeroes from those numbers and pretend this is a monthly household budget for the fictitious Smith family.

Amount of money the �Smith� family spent this month: $3,820

Total income for the �Smith� family this month: $2,170

Amount of new debt added to the credit card this month: $1,650

Outstanding balance on the credit card: $14,271 (This represents our national debt).

So last week, the �Smiths� sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $38 from their monthly budget.

Good illustration, but the debt number looks too small by a factor of 10. To make it easier, I see it all in annual numbers and divide by 100 million to get the numbers.

(based on OMB's published budget for FY2011):
Annual family income: $25,670
Annual family expenses: $38,340
Deficit of $12,670 for year (i.e., spent 50% more than income - $150 spent for every $100 of income)

Current credit card balance (www.usdebtclock.org): $145,930 and growing