If the US budget was a family budget, bankruptcy would be very soon

I cannot vouch for the veracity of these figures as they came to me by email and they may be anywhere from urban legend to close to the mark. That; however is not the point.

The important issue here is the question for us all to ask is “why do governments not publish the national accounts using the family income analysis comparison” as shown below. As this exercise below shows; it’s also easy to do.

While this example is based on the US the point I’m making in this thread; is that the questions I am asking are applicable to any country. Particularly where governments claim they are democratic.

Breaking national finances down to the family budget level provides numbers at a level that nearly all citizens can understand and relate to. These corporate level budget figures are numbers that the vast majority of any nation’s population has difficulty in comprehending.

Perhaps it’s deliberate that all national governments do not use the family sized budget analysis model when publishing the national accounts. After all; to come up with this idea at government level is not a ‘rocket science’ level idea for them.

I can only speculate as to why governments only publish corporate level national accounts.

Perhaps it’s a case of ‘you have no role in this, you leave government to us”
Perhaps it’s because it might cause the citizens to question why so much money is spent on the war industry?

Perhaps I’m wrong, what do you think?

United States 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

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 credit card: $142,710
Total budget cuts: $385

I further suggest that all national governments also publish this kind of accounts

Family Budget Sheet
Total Anticipated Budget: $21,700

Health care: $ xxxx.
Education: $ xxxx
Defence/Security: $ xxxx
Cost of government: $xxxc
Total Expenditure: $xxxxx

try 200 trillion for national debt instead of 15 trillion. That will be more appropiate.

How long before China decides to foreclose?

reply to post by theovermensch


thats an interesting question.I havent found anything to read about how the uro crisis impacts on China but our economy if heavily dependent on China as a market these days and I did read somewhere that China has maxed out is credit. Who has China got credit with. It may drive them to foreclose on the US and perhaps several other counteries.

reply to post by bussoboy


well USA is starting to act like a bad boy and has snatched away investments of china in libya and Sudan.How long before they ask Russia to be a repo man for them and foreclose on the debtor ,whether by peaceful or forceful means.

reply to post by bussoboy


That looks eerily similar to the family budgets of the average American household. People have been raised and conditioned by this twisted society to live beyond their means and become debt slaves. Just as the average American family become wage slaves to the banks, so too has the American Government handed their freedom to their masters. Both the micro and macrocosm will suffer the same end result; utter economic annihilation! I won't shed a tear for either of them, for they will reap what they sow.

The debt is not on the 20% credit card, it's in 2% 10-year t-bills.
That's the first missleading part.
The second missleading part is that a family budget has anything in common with a government budget beyond the fact that both contain the word "budget"

If your family budget looked like a healthy bank budget, you would be in bankruptcy within a day. If a bank budget looked like a healthy family budget, the bank would be in bankruptcy within a day.

reply to post by bussoboy


Interesting analogy, but remember that while a family can never print money to supplement the spending (because that is illegal) that is higher than the generated income the government can an does it all the time.

BTW you forgot the funds that the FED gamble with that has not need of approval from congress, remember the shadow government, they also have a spending budget.