Guest Post: Fiscal Cliff in Plain English

Mark T. a listener of the TDI Podcast sent this in and I thought it was worth a look. Good stuff!

“Fiscal Cliff” in plain English

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: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Now, let’s 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

Got It ? ….. OK now,
Lesson # 2:
Here’s another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:

Let’s say, you come home from work and find
there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood
and your home has sewage all the way up to the ceilings.

What do you think you should do …..

Raise the ceilings, or remove the shit?