Understanding The Debt Crisis, But Simplified

I am 60 years old, but I remember when I was a kid we all dreamed of becoming millionaires. Back then a millionaire was the ultimate goal even though we had no concept of what a million dollars actually was. I remember sitting with a bunch of my friends describing to each other what we would do if we had a million dollars to spend.

Now a million dollars seems like nothing, all I hear being tossed around are billions, trillions, gazillions and who knows what is coming next. The majority of people like myself, have no grasp of these type of numbers, so when we hear politicians talk about the deficit and the countries debt problem, many people just do not grasp the severity of the situation. We as a country are headed for a disaster if we do not stop all this out of control spending. I do not understand the people of this country, our future is staring us in the face, but we ignore what the future holds for us. We choose to close our eyes to what is going on in Greece, France, Italy and Spain, not to mention the rest of Europe. We watch all the time on T.V. rioting in the streets, unemployment as high as 25% and we feel safe living in America, thinking that will never happen here. Well 10 years ago, those countries never thought it would happen to them either. Well, now look at them.

This is one of the best explanations of this country’s economic condition made simple.

Lesson #1:

* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000

* National debt: $15,271,000,000,000

* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Let’s now remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

* Annual family income: $21,700

* Money the family spent: $38,200

* New debt on the credit card: $16,500

* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $152,710