Government Belt Tightening

[Grumpy]

Clear example

This cuts thru political doublespeak we get -- puts matters into a clearer perspective.

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 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: $3.85

Lesson # 2: 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 crap?

Your choice is coming Nov. 2012.

[GeoFisher]

Clear example

This cuts thru political doublespeak we get -- puts matters into a clearer perspective.

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 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: $3.85

Lesson # 2: 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 crap?

Your choice is coming Nov. 2012.

very good EXAMPLE.

Thanks.

I'm stealing it

[HURRICANEBOB]

What do you think you should do?
Raise the ceilings or pump out the crap?

I'd immediately put it up for sale with a realtor, and emphasize its:
a. a fixer upper
b. comes with a pre-fertilized front lawn.

[Grumpy]

Geo, bo probkenm I stolte it first.

Grumpy

[kydonky]

If it were only that simple. If it would only take a vote to fix it we would have had this fixed a long time ago.

The Bush presidency doubled the national debt and he left office leaving the worst financial crisis since the depression. He also left commitments to two wars (one that had to be fought unfortunately).

The debt continues to rise weather the Dems or the Repubs control the congress or the presidency.

The Clinton Era left Bush with budget surpluses.

I do not see lowering taxes as the anwer to the national debt. We have not had a surplus budget since the Bush tax cut were enacted.

So the question is how to pay it off. Lowering taxes unfortunately does not work mathematicaly. Cutting spending will only slow the progression or perhaps make it worse is we should slide back into ressession.

So if my family was in this situation I would consider a part time job moonlighting to pay off the loans. That would not be fun but I would tell myself that once I have this under control things will improve.

I could not let my family go hungry and I would not want to raid my children's educations.

We were in this position at the end of WWII. The national debt was 121% of the GDP. We did not pay this off by reducing taxes then.

Where was this concern in 2005, 2006 .....?

[kydonky]

Your share (my share) of the national debt is about $50,000.00.

If this were my car loan I would not pay it off by cutting my payment. I have to pay on the principal to pay it off. So just like my car loan and my home mortgage I can pay them off early and with less interest by paying an extra amount to the principal each month.

It does work. I paid my home 30 year home loan off in 17 years by just paying an extra $100.00 to principal each month.

[Chubminnow]

The Bush presidency doubled the national debt and he left office leaving the worst financial crisis since the depression. He also left commitments to two wars (one that had to be fought unfortunately). Not necessarily Bush's fault though...he and our country both were completely blind sided, sucker punched by those idiot muslims on 911...that loss right there plus the huge windfall of money necessary for the homeland security is the major reason for the doubling of any debt (I have no idea if the debt was doubled or not, but I do know the after effects of 911 cost us a lot of money...and I can't pin that as being Bush's fault)
The debt continues to rise weather the Dems or the Repubs control the congress or the presidency. This is true...but debt has NEVER risen as much as we have seen it rise under Obama's watch.The Clinton Era left Bush with budget surpluses. This is because the Clinton era saw a republican controlled house and senate...Clinton ain't no dummy, he listend to the repubilcans and in doing so ended up making himself shine a little bit.I do not see lowering taxes as the anwer to the national debt. We have not had a surplus budget since the Bush tax cut were enacted.

So the question is how to pay it off. Lowering taxes unfortunately does not work mathematicaly. Cutting spending will only slow the progression or perhaps make it worse is we should slide back into ressession. First place I know to start is vote Obama out of office.So if my family was in this situation I would consider a part time job moonlighting to pay off the loans. That would not be fun but I would tell myself that once I have this under control things will improve. Not only moon lighting but moon lighting for tax free money. It ain't right but it's better to screw the government before they screw you. Very sad that this is what it has come down to, but it is what it is and this is where we're at. And you're correct, it ain't no fun...I've been doing it since Q1 of 2010
I could not let my family go hungry and I would not want to raid my children's educations. Me either...but big government does not care about you and your's...they will raid whatever funds are available as they seem to have proven time and time again.We were in this position at the end of WWII. The national debt was 121% of the GDP. We did not pay this off by reducing taxes then. I don't know, I wasn't around at that time.

Where was this concern in 2005, 2006 .....?

The concern was there...I remember the news mentioning the cost of the homeland security act, etc...but that was just the beginning. Now people are tired of being taxed out the wazoo while at the same time not seeing any pay encreases since 2007/2008. So now it has hit home for eveyone I guess.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Just wondering, if you nuc a country you owe money to, do you still owe them the money?

If you declare a country an enemy, can you just right off your debt with them?

If you don't pay your debt as a country, do they come repossess your President? :-)

[waterdog101]

If it were only that simple. If it would only take a vote to fix it we would have had this fixed a long time ago.

The Bush presidency doubled the national debt and he left office leaving the worst financial crisis since the depression. He also left commitments to two wars (one that had to be fought unfortunately).

The debt continues to rise weather the Dems or the Repubs control the congress or the presidency.

The Clinton Era left Bush with budget surpluses.

I do not see lowering taxes as the anwer to the national debt. We have not had a surplus budget since the Bush tax cut were enacted.

So the question is how to pay it off. Lowering taxes unfortunately does not work mathematicaly. Cutting spending will only slow the progression or perhaps make it worse is we should slide back into ressession.

So if my family was in this situation I would consider a part time job moonlighting to pay off the loans. That would not be fun but I would tell myself that once I have this under control things will improve.

I could not let my family go hungry and I would not want to raid my children's educations.

We were in this position at the end of WWII. The national debt was 121% of the GDP. We did not pay this off by reducing taxes then.

Where was this concern in 2005, 2006 .....?

Donkey, you sure do post reading, that is hard on Republican Eyes!!

[Chubminnow]

Donkey, you sure do post reading, that is hard on Republican Eyes!!

Kind of like some of us are able to post things that leave those on the left without anything more to say, lol...

[GeoFisher]

If it were only that simple. If it would only take a vote to fix it we would have had this fixed a long time ago.

The Bush presidency doubled the national debt and he left office leaving the worst financial crisis since the depression. He also left commitments to two wars (one that had to be fought unfortunately).

The debt continues to rise weather the Dems or the Repubs control the congress or the presidency.

The Clinton Era left Bush with budget surpluses.

I do not see lowering taxes as the anwer to the national debt. We have not had a surplus budget since the Bush tax cut were enacted.

So the question is how to pay it off. Lowering taxes unfortunately does not work mathematicaly. Cutting spending will only slow the progression or perhaps make it worse is we should slide back into ressession.

So if my family was in this situation I would consider a part time job moonlighting to pay off the loans. That would not be fun but I would tell myself that once I have this under control things will improve.

I could not let my family go hungry and I would not want to raid my children's educations.

We were in this position at the end of WWII. The national debt was 121% of the GDP. We did not pay this off by reducing taxes then.

Where was this concern in 2005, 2006 .....?

Actually, lowering taxes DOES work mathematically. If 10 million people get jobs, or BETTER paying jobs due to a blistering economy, more tax revenue is collected.

Say half of those are 50-60k jobs........NOT saying they will be but for shits and giggles, lets say so.

So 5 million jobs at 50k. Put them in a 10% tax bracket for simplicity and take the HIGH number. That is 6,000 is tax revenue per person.

6,000 * 5,000,000.......hm. if my math is right 30,000,000,000 That is 30 BILLION dollars in revenue just by putting people back to work.

Lets not forget about the products being sold by those corporations because of lower taxes. Lets say those revenues are double, and lets say they make 1,000,000 gross a company. If you lowered their tax bill by 10% but they sold 50% more product.....doesn't that work out to MORE tax revenue to the government.

I'm just playing with numbers, here, but I think we are so polarized that we are unwilling to try anything. During the Bush years, you really could not try "trickle down" due to the wars. During the Clinton years, they cut the military so deeply the OF COURSE you could show headway towards the budget.

Bottom line. LOTS of stuff needs to be done. Lets get started and stop bitching about how to get there.

Later,

Geo

[Mean Morone]

The financial problems in this country were not created because we don't pay our fair share. We pay plenty in taxes. Instead of politicians saying what needs to be said, which is we are spending way more than we take in or borrow, they just try to make us mad at fellow citizens just to get more of their money. I don't want to take from them, but rather be like them. Constitution, what's that?