US Fiscal Cliff - Some Perspective

Blah, blah, blah.  Big numbers and bigger numbers.

So let's remove 8 zero's from the above and pretend it's a household budget.

Yikes.  That family is out of control!

But do they have a revenue problem or a spending problem?  You be the judge. (Spending = red line, Revenue = blue line)

Looks like their spending knows no bounds.

Some pundits say now is not the time to stop spending.  They say that government must stimulate the economy to get it back on track.

That would mean projects for which you never had money during the good times magically become affordable when you are broke.

"Honey, good news.  Our credit card is maxed out.  We can now go on that European vacation!"

Above are the major components of U.S. spending.

[The bulk of the Treasury spending is interest on their debt.]

 And I just couldn't resist a little editorializing......

Looks like Pappa Obama and the kids are heading to Europe!  Maybe they are going to visit like minded relatives in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

[First two charts are from the website bitsandpieces.us, via a friend's Facebook page]