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Home Front: Culture Wars
Tea Party Group Casts National Debt as a Household Budget
2011-09-27
America's ever-growing debt crisis is in the trillions -- more than $14 trillion, give or take a few billion.

That's a lot of zeros, numbers so large they're sure to make Americans numb when trying to get their arms around what it means to them.

But what would the federal debt crisis look like if you set it up as a household budget?

A heck of a lot simpler, according to new figures from one Tea Party group, which estimates the government "household" spends nearly twice as much as it takes in every year, has a credit card bill nearly seven times annual income and cuts back less than 2 percent of that spending in an effort to control the debt.

"We had discussed about how any citizen needs to understand what the proposed cuts mean," said Laurie Newsom, president of the Gainesville, Fla., Tea Party. "One of our members had figured it out and put it in terms of a household budget. If you ran a household with these numbers, you would see that it's simply not enough."

The group looked at some key figures, mainly tax revenue, the current federal budget, debt and budget cuts, and divided each figure by $100 million, in an effort to break it down into simple terms that most Americans can comprehend. The group posted its findings online and came up with a household with an average family income of $21,700. But that "family" spent nearly twice that -- $38,200 -- and has an existing credit card balance of a whopping $142,710.

"Everyone tries to keep things extremely simple for these things meant for general public consumption and of course there's a give-and-take with that," said Seth Rabinowitz, a partner with Silicon Associates, an economics-focused management consulting firm based in California. "I would make it clearer for the layman.They used the line 'Money the family spent'...but really that means, 'Money the family spent (last year and intends to spend this year again).' "

"However, when you remove those eight zeros, the $385 spending cuts obviously aren't even visible. They don't even make a dent," he said.

The bottom line, according to Newsom: "Cuts won't take care of it. You need business growth, which we wouldn't have in a regulatory environment."
Bottom line: We're fucked. Have a nice day.
Posted by:DarthVader

#13  I don't know much about Herman Cain yet but I'm getting interested.
Posted by: European Conservative   2011-09-27 22:53  

#12  The Tea Party illustrated this well. We produced a similar short piece on what our budget deficit looks like compared to a monthly household budget. Either way, the numbers are astounding. More on my blog at http://www.jasongriffin.net/blog/2011/9/27/tea-party-group-shows-national-debt-as-household-budget.html
Posted by: Jason Griffin   2011-09-27 21:15  

#11  You will not be taxed in your new FEMA region sancuary. There will be no coinage or script, no hoarding or thought for the morrow. All will share equally of the provisions therein.
Posted by: Besoeker   2011-09-27 17:20  

#10  in the absence of capital gains taxes and confiscatory income tax rates and excise taxes AS IF those will ever go away, chances are between extremely slim and none.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2011-09-27 17:11  

#9  VAT Is the worst type of tax on incomes.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2011-09-27 17:01  

#8  Consumption taxes promote the use of money for savings and investment and capital formation, in the absence of capital gains taxes and confiscatory income tax rates and excise taxes. This is better than instead of wrongly diverting money into favored government areas like tax shelters and loopholes. Everyone pays the tax when they buy something, even scum like drug dealers, pimps, and Warren Buffett. However it must be restricted carefully or you end up with the VAT nightmare.
Posted by: The Other Beldar   2011-09-27 16:24  

#7  The Dems WILL covert the Income Tax back to what it is today AND keep the National Sales Tax. Congratulations, "Tea Party".
Posted by: wr   2011-09-27 16:22  

#6  read 9-9-9 poster #5. It's a plan, a simple common sense way for the bloated government to collect its taxes. Hell of alot better than the tax code we have now, unless you are one of the 48% that don't pay income taxes.
Posted by: bman   2011-09-27 15:55  

#5  Yeah, right. Noticed Herman Cain. Was getting a lot of support here from the "right". You know, the Republican candidate that wants to institute a new tax, THE national sales tax. Something the Dems have been wanting (VAT Tax) and who will exploit it if Cain does establish a national sales tax. Wow, how lost in the woods the right is.
Posted by: wr   2011-09-27 14:33  

#4  JohnQC- yes, that is absolutely correct. We need to slash government spending, regulation, and taxes across the board.
Posted by: eltoroverde   2011-09-27 13:37  

#3  #2 The only way out of this hole is to grow our way out of it.

First, we need to stop digging the hole.
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-09-27 12:33  

#2  This method of analysis is brilliant in its ability to get the message across to the average person that the current fiscal path is simply unsustainable and is a sure path to utter disaster and doom for the country. Hopefully this will wake some people up. We need to drastically cut spending, regulation, and taxes across the board. The only way out of this hole is to grow our way out of it. There is no other choice.
Posted by: eltoroverde   2011-09-27 12:22  

#1  You need business growth, which we wouldn't have in a regulatory environment. More utter nonsense. But despair is a sin.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2011-09-27 11:46  

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