Remove 8 Zeros

The lame duck congress is back in session, grinding their teeth and bemoaning cuts to the federal budget mandated by the "sequester." We're told that children will starve, the infrastructure will crumble, our troops will use pea-shooters instead of more potent weapons, and heaven forbid, the government will grow at an infinitesimally slower rate.

In actuality, the Democrats have never seen a cut they liked, except when it's applied to the military. The GOP, although they talk a good show, don't have the courage or the ability to reign in spending. The result is that the Washington elites love to spend, and as a consequence, grow the budget and the debt ever bigger.

I rarely repeat a viral email, but there's one going around whose numbers seem about right. It drives home the point that all the concern about sequestration is laughably idiotic. Here goes:

• 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: $19,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's 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: $192,710
• Total budget cuts so far: $385

Got It ?????

The reality is that no one—not Dem or GOP—has the courage to act responsibly and reduce spending by a meaningful amount. Eventually, we'll hit a wall—and the results will not be pretty.