![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tax and spend... republicans?
Jul. 30th, 2004 07:00 pmJust a comment on the data mentioned in this article on the US deficit.
The deficit is expected to be $445 billion this year. We've become immune to numbers like that. They are so large they boggle the imagination. The distance from the earth to the sun is only about 93 million miles and even that number isn't easy to get your mind around. But let's bring this number into perspective.
First and foremost, this number is one year's deficit, not the federal debt. The federal debt was $6,783,231,062,743.62 at the end of the last fiscal year according to the US treasury. The debt number is never mentioned in the press because it is politically taboo and completely beyond the scope of most people's understanding. This year's spending increased that by another $445 billion ($445,000,000,000 for those who like the zeros).
If you divide this debt up by household, each household's share at the beginning of this fiscal year was approximately $60,500. This year alone, another $3,900 or so. So if you're lucky enough to live in the US, your family racked up $3,900 worth of debt this year. I hope you got something good out of it. You wouldn't happen to have a plan to pay this off would you?
If you're interested, take a look at this page for historical info or this page for more current info.
The deficit is expected to be $445 billion this year. We've become immune to numbers like that. They are so large they boggle the imagination. The distance from the earth to the sun is only about 93 million miles and even that number isn't easy to get your mind around. But let's bring this number into perspective.
First and foremost, this number is one year's deficit, not the federal debt. The federal debt was $6,783,231,062,743.62 at the end of the last fiscal year according to the US treasury. The debt number is never mentioned in the press because it is politically taboo and completely beyond the scope of most people's understanding. This year's spending increased that by another $445 billion ($445,000,000,000 for those who like the zeros).
If you divide this debt up by household, each household's share at the beginning of this fiscal year was approximately $60,500. This year alone, another $3,900 or so. So if you're lucky enough to live in the US, your family racked up $3,900 worth of debt this year. I hope you got something good out of it. You wouldn't happen to have a plan to pay this off would you?
If you're interested, take a look at this page for historical info or this page for more current info.
