OT Federal Budget n understandable terms

Don't rush to close this. We all get tired of the big numbers...beyond our comprehension (and Congress' and BO's, too, apparently) but after the big numbers below it is pared down by removing 8 zeroes and looking at it as a household budget, debt, etc. JLS

Courtesy of Jack "Goat" Hogan, USMC Huey Gunship driver RVN

1968-69............Retired Delta Captain......"Fighter by Day, Lover by Night, Drunkard by Choice"

Federal Budget 101

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:

a.. U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000 b.. Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000 c.. New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000 d.. National debt: $14,271,000,000,000 e.. Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget) f.. Deficit "Reduction" $2,200,000,000,000 over ten years

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 Hogan family.

a.. Total annual income for the Hogan family: $21,700 b.. Amount of money the Hogan family spent: $38,200 c.. Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500 d.. Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710 e.. Amount cut from the budget: $385

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski
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According to Rush Limbaugh, technically there hasn't been an official Federal Budget for the past 2 years.

Just continuing resolutions to raise the debt ceiling.

Reply to
Home Guy

So, what's the problem? Looks like the budget of most every middle class family in the US, overextended to the limit. Buy that new 2500 sq ft cathedral ceilinged home in the burbs and two new $30-40K cars while both parents work till they die of hypertension. It's the American dream and exactly how the World Bank and other grind out bust-yer-balls MBA factories planned it. Doesn't matter, as the life on this trashed orb is circling drain of imminent extinction. Go out in high style, I say! ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob

The budget President Obama submitted for this fiscal year was turned down

97-0 in the Dem-controlled Senate and nothing happened since. Nobody talks about the good side of bipartisanship. (g)'
Reply to
Kurt Ullman

Hogan family: $21,700

amily spent: $38,200

the credit card: $16,500

credit card: $142,710

The problem is a household in that position would not be able to raise it's credit limit and go about borrowing. They would be maxed out on credit cards and the lenders would not be stupid enough to lend them more. In the case of govt, they have no such restriction.

Clearly while some families have too much debt, very few have anything close to the above situation where they are borrowing an additional 80% of what they earn each year to pay bills. To say that's typical is a dangerous exageration, because it then starts to make what's going on with govt look OK.

The above simple budget analysis is a good one. It might get more people to begin to understand what is really going on and what is at stake.

Reply to
trader4

You left out one thing, Ed: the Hogan's credit card was nearly maxed out, and they figured the solution to the problem was to increase the limit on the card by $21,000.

Reply to
Doug Miller

They would if they could figure out how to make money off the shell game and stick the taxpayer with the loss. That's precisely what they did!

Apparently, thanks to our govt, they have none in the finacial world, either.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Admirable illustration -- but is the practical question not what your elected government can agree to do about it?

Reply to
Don Phillipson

"Don Phillipson" wrote in news:j21g9f$k02$3 @speranza.aioe.org:

You mean elected representatives, I suppose. The House makes the budget or at least starts it. If the left and the right can only agree that each one wants to be reelected, deservedly or not, then of course taking extreme positions is good policy (feeding your constituents). The hullabaloo comes when they want to show the home folks how much they care about them, which means pork ...

Reply to
Han

I didn't know you were a Dittohead.

True. 832 days.

Reply to
krw

Far from it. I'll sometimes tune my car radio to WJR to listen to that windbag if my regular station (CBC radio) plays some god-damn french music for a few minutes. Once my ears start to bleed, that's when I know I've been listening to the pompous ass long enough, and I'll change back to CBC.

I will admit that it would be a real hoot to bring in a case of "Two if by Tea" into the office one day.

Question: Is Snerdly a real person?

I used to listen to Sean Hanity in the evenings on the radio back 5+ years ago. I remember when he said "David Kay is our man in Iraq. He'll find the WMD's - just you wait". Yea - that turned out real well, didn't it Sean? What an ass Hanity was. Still is. He said Hussein killed people by putting them into basically a large blender. Hanity was nothing more than a gov't propaganda mouthpiece.

Reply to
Home Guy

Come on now. You've been outed.

How should I know? It could be several, over the past, what, 25 years.

Do you always talk in such an unorganized stream of drivel?

Reply to
krw

Bo Snerdley is actually James Golden. A bit about him here:

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I don't know if there were other Snerdleys before him.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

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