US debt in laymans' terms . . .

[MasterOfNone]

Andyy, I have just one question. How did you get statistics about my wife's shopping habits?

[RoyGBiv]

Here's a simpler explanation... No reading or statistics required..

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=MqoGORXAv2o[/youtube]

[i8godzilla]

Found this elsewhere:

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:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

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 Jones family:

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

Do you think the credit card companies will raise the Jones' credit limit?

[MasterOfNone]

Found this elsewhere:

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:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

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 Jones family:

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

Do you think the credit card companies will raise the Jones' credit limit?

No. The credit card companies would lower the Jones' credit limit to $142,710 and convince them that they need to authorize charging over the limit. Then each new charge will be accompanied by a $39 over-the-limit fee.

[Beiruty]

A better picture that show US ALL entities, personal, cities, state and federal are ALL bankrupt.

Liability to Assets is 4:1 per citizens.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is for TX:, 4,000,000 on food stamps and 1 million unemployed

http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-c ... clock.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[apostate]

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 Jones family:

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

When you put it that way. it's hard to feel any sympathy for the Jones family, especially after they have a family meeting and decide to increase their debt ceiling. However, it would be even more difficult to muster up a shred of sympathy for the credit card company when the Jones family defaults.