National Debt 101

Here are two great lessons on how to explain the national debt to your liberal friends:

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 cuts: $38,500,000,000

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

* Annual family income: $21,700.00
* Money the family spent: $38,200.00
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500.00
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710.00
* Total budget cuts so far: $3.85

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 your ceilings.

What do you think you should do ......

Raise the ceilings, or pump out the sewage?

Quick question, Whats the GDP of the US as compared to it's debt?

Originally posted by RedShirt73
Quick question, Whats the GDP of the US as compared to it's debt?

Great question!
U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

Oh yeah, forgot to ask, how would the GDP of a particular country affect it's debt (In this case the US)? I have to apologize because I'm not so quick on the draw when it comes to these matters (very basic understanding). For example, if the US is at 104% of GDP what would that mean for their debt?

I think the poster was asking what the percentage of debt compared to net worth.

I get what you are saying, but these conversations always make my head hurt. The overall "debt" is not the same as the "deficit".

The deficit is what we overspend each year versus what we take in as revenue. That overspending gets thrown into the pile of "overall debt.

Much of the "overall debt" is money we owe ourselves and the Federal reserve.

This is where I get agitated and people don't seem to get it.

When the Fed says they are going to do a QE3 and print a bunch of money, that money is added to our deficit/overall debt. They take that money and give it to banks and financial institutions to "stimulate" the economy. But here is what most people lose somewhere. The Fed Government is going to take "your" tax dollars, to pay for money that the Fed gave to banks, to loan to you at interest. You are essentially giving the banks your tax money so they can turn around and loan it back to you for interest...aka...profit.

I do not understand why people are not more outraged over this clever little shell game....every time the Fed and the Gubbment decides to stimulate the economy....they essentially give away your money (or your kids and grandkids that has not even been earned yet) and then send you a bill for it....WTF!

I know this is a simplified and dumbed down version but...essentially it's correct....and mobs and mobs of people out there just do not get it...

They watch the Tube and shout at whichever puppet is in the White House while all along getting plugged in the backdoor....makes you wonder how they can stand to sit down to watch the idiot box...maybe it just gets so loose and worn out, folks stopped feeling it.

Last I checked GDP vs debt ratio was @ 101% but that was before this last fed pumping...
The lower the percentage the better, red line is 96% I think, if I remember correctly.

reply to post by Jeremiah65
Like watching Idiocracy the movie, if you haven't seen it you will laugh at how accurate it reflects today's society.

So wouldn't the logical course of action be to get rid of the fed or at least severely limit its power to affect government and thank you for explaining it to me.

Originally posted by RedShirt73
So wouldn't the logical course of action be to get rid of the fed or at least severely limit its power to affect government and thank you for explaining it to me.

YES!!! hence why a bunch of us that are still awake wanted Ron Paul to win!

Originally posted by Thunderheart
Last I checked GDP vs debt ratio was @ 101% but that was before this last fed pumping...
The lower the percentage the better, red line is 96% I think, if I remember correctly.

edit on 18-9-2012 by Thunderheart because: (no reason given)

I think that sounds about right. During the 40's and 50's, I think we got somewhere around 140% in the red....GDP vs Debt...

What did we do?

We built roads and bridges, dams and powerstations....improved the capability to produce goods and ship them and thus improved our global market share. That is what pulled us out of that red line time. More people working (and paying taxes), more of our product sold around the world...more tariffs for incoming goods...and we got out of serious debt. This whole solution is completely being ignored. It might not be a perfect answer to our current problem, however there are some clues in there that would work.

Tariffs are a big one. They used to offset the wage differences from our country and the rest of the world. The Globalists who want to buy things for pennies in Taiwan and sell them just a couple dollars under an American produced product...got that shiz changed to their advantage and the pain and woe of the American worker....fact.

reply to post by Jeremiah65

That's a dream act.
"Uh.. I guess, shovel ready wasn't quite as shovel ready as we thought hurr durr"
B. Obama

Originally posted by Jeremiah65

Originally posted by Thunderheart
Last I checked GDP vs debt ratio was @ 101% but that was before this last fed pumping...
The lower the percentage the better, red line is 96% I think, if I remember correctly.

edit on 18-9-2012 by Thunderheart because: (no reason given)

I think that sounds about right. During the 40's and 50's, I think we got somewhere around 140% in the red....GDP vs Debt...

What did we do?

We built roads and bridges, dams and powerstations....improved the capability to produce goods and ship them and thus improved our global market share. That is what pulled us out of that red line time. More people working (and paying taxes), more of our product sold around the world...more tariffs for incoming goods...and we got out of serious debt. This whole solution is completely being ignored. It might not be a perfect answer to our current problem, however there are some clues in there that would work.

Tariffs are a big one. They used to offset the wage differences from our country and the rest of the world. The Globalists who want to buy things for pennies in Taiwan and sell them just a couple dollars under an American produced product...got that shiz changed to their advantage and the pain and woe of the American worker....fact.

edit on 18-9-2012 by Jeremiah65 because: (no reason given)

Then the course of action would be to update the infrastructure of the US as well as bring in new sources of energy (i.e. Wind, Solar and research into alternative forms of energy). Perhaps some sort of project to replace or limit to use of fossil fuels. There are wealth of ideas, Brazil’s energy plan for example (producing ethanol from sugarcane) or ideas that can produce energy from tides or waves on the ocean. I know, pie in the sky thinking, lol.

reply to post by Thunderheart


Yes it is a "dream" I guess. I'm not for just building and doing things for no reason. But the truth is, I work in Construction Engineering...I have for over 28 years. Our infrastructure is in pretty bad shape and needs to be addressed sooner than later. Right now money is cheap and would be a perfect time to get to it...The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be...fact. Wait to long and repair becomes impossible and then it's rebuild time...that is going to cost a lot and if a road has to be shut down....there goes transport efficiency.

Anything that can be done to increase productivity and efficiency is always good. Our interstate system is a great example of that. Though it was originally designed for troop movement within the continental USA, it worked even better for moving product coast to coast and manufacturer to port. That was a wise investment. We actually had a couple back in the day (good ideas that is).

Bah...I'm not going to hold my breath. Neither party is going to listen to anyone even when lots and lots of experts have said "we should prob do this now"...what do we know....we're just the professional experts....

C'mon and follow St. Ronnie's lead... raise that level as many times as you see fit. I mean he's the patron saint of the right, right?

Derek

Originally posted by Viesczy
C'mon and follow St. Ronnie's lead... raise that level as many times as you see fit. I mean he's the patron saint of the right, right?

Derek

You must have mistaken him for Ron Paul...