the US budget in laymans terms

[97guns]

Here is why S&P downgraded the US credit rating.

• 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 cut: $ 38,500,000,000

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: $385

[herdjohnson]

Here is why S&P downgraded the US credit rating.

• 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 cut: $ 38,500,000,000

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: $385

No, they downgraded the credit rating because we have the above situation AND the husband refuses to cut hardly anything, and the wife refuses to increase income.

[GrimJack]

Sorry but I do not know of any family that has a military, maintains air-traffic control to protect their millions of passengers, ...

I could go on but the lack of understanding that is implied when someone compares the US government to a family is so stupendously wrong that the words fail me. Pick a better analogy.

[bjl584]

It's not quite that simple. It's an apples and oranges comparison to compare the federal budget to that of your own personal budget.

We were downgraded because, at least in part, to the huge debt and deficit, but you can't compare that to what you have going on with your personal finances.

[fe2o3ez]

Certainly, the analogy is curt. Yeah, its a bit smug to compare the National Budget and Revenue to that of a household. However, I do appreciate the attempt by OP to put the numbers in a single place for the sake of simplicity. It brings them down in scale to an understandable level.

For instance, given that it is an election year, let's say an incumbent (be they 'husband' or 'wife') has an opinion on the $38BB that was cut from the budget. A voter might think that number was a pretty big cut and worthwhile. However, when you see it in relative terms, and realize it is barely 1% of our spending as a whole, it can put a whole different perspective on the numbers.

Thanks for the post - relevant or not.