If the Government was a Family

If the Federal Government was Family...

and if their household income was $55,000 per year, they’d actually be spending $96,500 —$41,500 more than they made! That means they’re spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000!

I thought that this was a good way to bring those "trillion-something" figures into something we can comprehend a little bit more.  I'm not going to claim that I know what should be done to fix the mess our country is in, but I do agree a lot with Dave Ramsey when he talks about how it's going to have to hurt for everyone.  There is no single budget line item (not even our Defense) that can make up the deficit.

I also learned (not that I probably didn't know it if I thought about it, but I never thought about it) that when the politicians say they are going to "reduce the deficit," they're saying that they're still going to spend more money than they bring in, they just won't spend quite as much.

I do love the US--maybe even more so now that I'm living overseas, but our politicians (on both sides) are just so disappointing.  Everyone seems to be in it for themselves, worried about getting more power and more money--no one seems to truly care about the country and the country's future as a whole.

You can read Dave's full article here.