Dec 30 2012

Fiscal Cliff For Congressional Dummies

Published by at 12:13 pm under 2013 Fiscal Cliff,All General Discussions

Jazz Shaw at Hotair posted this concise representation of the “US Budget for Dummies:

* 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: $14,271,000,000,000
* 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: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $385.00 [fixed the math]

I would like to  now append this with the effects of going over the fiscal cliff, using $109B for the spending cuts and $600B for the Clinton Tax rates coming back:

* Annual family income: $27,700
* Money the family spent: $37,110
* New debt on the credit card: $9,400
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $385.00

I like to think of this as the Fiscal Cliff for Dummies (GOP congressional dummies primarily). Note, I did not put the sequestration mandatory cuts on the last line, but instead I folded it into the spending line (since they are mandatory spending cuts).

What Jazz Shaw highlights with these numbers is how little DC is really trying to fix their theft of our kids’future incomes. DC has racked up that outstanding balance of $14.27 Trillion, and in their only response to  voter pressure is a measly $38.5 billion, simply illustrates the incompetence of both parties. They are just not serious, they simply kick the problem down the road as our children are rapidly being bankrupted. To see these numbers aligned with the average American Family income, see this comment.

At least the ‘fiscal cliff‘ makes a dent in this criminal madness. At least the fiscal cliff requires today’s free loaders (er,.. voters) to pay for their consumption of federal largesse. Unless the GOP can do better than the cliff regarding the bottom line, I would force the country to take its medicine.

3 responses so far

3 Responses to “Fiscal Cliff For Congressional Dummies”

  1. pantone1987 says:

    For the majority of the population, the fiscal cliff is not in their minds. All they care about is what the government is going to do for them. Did Romney/Ryan ever explain (especially to the young) why the debt and deficit is such a huge problem? I don’t recall.

    I honestly don’t know what it will take to change things for the better. A complete economic collapse may not be enough. I have relatives in Greece and while that country is in a mess that may never recover, they are still concerned about what the government will do for them.

    It’s all give me, give me, give me….

  2. kathie says:

    Thanks AJ…the problem is, dummies don’t care and don’t read. They just want!

  3. […] what will change if we actually let the Fiscal Cliff come to fruition – $700 Billion less stolen from our kids’ futures this year ALONE. It is time we stopped being a nation of deadbeats, freeloading on the future […]