When your talking about the US budget/deficit, numbers like trillions and billions tend to lose there meaning.

How many people have hands-on experience with that much money?

I like to think in percentages…those I can relate to. Unfortunately, this makes the recent congressional “debates” over the budget seem absurd.

Lets bring this down to our level. Assume you have an annual salary of $50,000 in 2011. That would be your projected revenue for the year.

Crunch a few numbers, and we end up with the following: For the level of proposed cuts, you would be reducing your spending by $1396- $755 in 2011 ($116-$62 per month). This seems perfectly reasonable and doable.

But according to the chart, your total budget for 2011 would be $87,800. This means that you would spend your entire salary, and still owe another $37,800. At which point, cutting $1396 out of your spending plan seems like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic…

Sources:
2011 Spending
Michael Ramirez – IBD
http://www.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=567991&Ntt=