Our Fed budget mess in layman terms

[gwb72tii]

got this email from a friend today

This is pretty explanatory. Love it.
Remember the out cry stemming from S&P's down grade of the US credit
worthiness? Well lets have a closer look!
This really makes it easy to see what is happening.
Current status ........
• U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal 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
• Current outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Total budget cuts: $385
When it is broken down like this, it makes it easier to see how much
trouble we are in !!!!!
Now read on and cry because you have a good reason to.
Check these statistics!
This list represents the percentage of each past president's cabinet
who had worked in the private business sector prior to their
appointment to the cabinet. You know what the private business sector
is -- a real life business, not a government job. Here are the
percentages.
T. Roosevelt...........38%
Taft.........................40%
Wilson ...................52%
Harding...................49%
Coolidge.................48%
Hoover ...................42%
F. Roosevelt............50%
Truman...................50%
Eisenhower.............57%
Kennedy..................30%
Johnson...................47%
Nixon.......................53%
Ford.........................42%
Carter......................32%
Reagan....................56%
GH Bush...................51%
Clinton ....................39%
G.W. Bush................55%
And the winner is:
Obama............... 8%

This helps to explain the incompetence of this administration: only 8%
of them have ever worked in private business!
That's right! Only eight percent---the least, by far, of the last 19
presidents! And these people are trying to tell our big corporations
how to run their business? They know what's best for GM, Chrysler,
Wall Street, and you and me?
How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the
most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about
business when he's never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has
never really had one? And when it's the same for 92% of his senior
staff and closest advisers? They've spent most of their time in
academia, government, and/or non-profit jobs such as "community
organizers." They should have been in an employment line.

"One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you
will be governed by your inferiors." Plato

[Dozyproductions]

Yeah, all of that sucks and so does Obama and his cabinet. But wasn't it congress that voted for the bail out? What is your fascination with the guy?

[gwb72tii]

huh? where does it mention the bailout?
and congress does suck too BTW

my fascination with the o-man is the historic nature of the upcoming election. the usa is at an inflection point where there are huge consequences about what the usa will be in the future, what kind of country, one that tries to ensure equal opportunity, or equal outcomes regardless of effort.

we're all being played by obama's arguments about the have's versus the have nots.
ever wonder, looking at the miserable state of our economy, how the messiah still has an approval rating of about 40%? that number is close to the % of federal tax filers who either pay no taxes or get money from the federal government. Obama wants the % to go up and ensure a permanent majority.

the man has to go

[CabrioPunk]

Very interesting. I think it is easy to dismiss these large numbers. we simply never deal or cannot comprehend so many zeros to the left of the decimal.... pretty scary stuff. I wish folks would see the problem. But like running for high school president, it is a popularity game.

[nrubenstein]

huh? where does it mention the bailout?
and congress does suck too BTW

my fascination with the o-man is the historic nature of the upcoming election. the usa is at an inflection point where there are huge consequences about what the usa will be in the future, what kind of country, one that tries to ensure equal opportunity, or equal outcomes regardless of effort.

we're all being played by obama's arguments about the have's versus the have nots.
ever wonder, looking at the miserable state of our economy, how the messiah still has an approval rating of about 40%? that number is close to the % of federal tax filers who either pay no taxes or get money from the federal government. Obama wants the % to go up and ensure a permanent majority.

the man has to go

LOL. Can we say paranoid fantasy territory? Anyway, the tax distribution map (which states pay more to the government than they receive) shows that it's largely blue states that pay in, and red states that take a pay out.

And, uh, while Obama may not have been an impressively effective president, much of our current problems stem from the republican unwillingness to compromise. Not to mention that we wouldn't be in this fiscal mess if the republicans hadn't started two wars, cut taxes, and created a gigantic unfunded public healthcare obligation.

[KenC]

This helps to explain the incompetence of this administration: only 8%
of them have ever worked in private business!
That's right! Only eight percent---the least, by far, of the last 19
presidents! And these people are trying to tell our big corporations
how to run their business? They know what's best for GM, Chrysler,
Wall Street, and you and me?
How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the
most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about
business when he's never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has
never really had one? And when it's the same for 92% of his senior
staff and closest advisers? They've spent most of their time in
academia, government, and/or non-profit jobs such as "community
organizers." They should have been in an employment line.
[/QUOTE]

Though the percentage is correct, the rest of your analysis is speculation and assumption. I would hypothesize that 90%+ of those that work in the private sector couldn't effectively and efficiently manage the company that they work for.

[Morrison]

Consider the converse argument - "So and so has spent all of their life in business and has never held a political position so they are not fit to govern." Could they possibly have read up on it though?

People don't typically just graduate high school and become a high ranking manager for a major corporation. They learn about business - where? - in college first. Perhaps, and this is a crazy thought, the messiah actually may have taken business oriented classes while in college.

Besides, isn't climbing the corporate ladder as much about who you know as what you know? Sounds vaguely like politics to me.

[Dozyproductions]

Pretty fit observation ^^^ . I think the OP is too stuck on democrat vs republican.

[joshh]

And that 8% is crooked and are people like Jeffrey Immelt who love sending our jobs over seas. With the help of Congress, POTUS and the EPA. \



And btw, the Democrats aren't trying to work with Republicans so that people like nrubenstein believe it's all the Republicans fault.

[z31maniac]

Not to mention that we wouldn't be in this fiscal mess if the republicans hadn't started two wars, cut taxes, and created a gigantic unfunded public healthcare obligation.

Dems controlled the House, Senate and Executive branch for the first two years of Obama's presidency. He passed all of his agenda, and where has it landed us?

The now R house has passed something like 22 jobs bills that Pelosi/Reid won't even let get to the floor for a vote in the Senate. Obama's "Jobs Bill" was designed never to pass and merely make the R's in the House look bad.

Dems still have the Senate/Executive, and it is THEY who refuse to compromise.

*keep in mind, I hate both sides equally*

[nrubenstein]

And that 8% is crooked and are people like Jeffrey Immelt who love sending our jobs over seas. With the help of Congress, POTUS and the EPA. \



And btw, the Democrats aren't trying to work with Republicans so that people like nrubenstein believe it's all the Republicans fault.

So, what concessions did the republicans make in the budget debate? All I saw was the democrats making one concession after another and the republicans declaring that it wasn't good enough and that they absolutely would not allow any tax hikes. You're not "working with" when you refuse to compromise. (In fact, the democrats' big problem has been that they've lacked the spine to tell the republicans to go fuck themselves more often and more effectively.)

[joshh]

Dems controlled the House, Senate and Executive branch for the first two years of Obama's presidency. He passed all of his agenda, and where has it landed us?

The now R house has passed something like 22 jobs bills that Pelosi/Reid won't even let get to the floor for a vote in the Senate. Obama's "Jobs Bill" was designed never to pass and merely make the R's in the House look bad.

Dems still have the Senate/Executive, and it is THEY who refuse to compromise.

*keep in mind, I hate both sides equally*

So, what concessions did the republicans make in the budget debate? All I saw was the democrats making one concession after another and the republicans declaring that it wasn't good enough and that they absolutely would not allow any tax hikes. You're not "working with" when you refuse to compromise. (In fact, the democrats' big problem has been that they've lacked the spine to tell the republicans to go fuck themselves more often and more effectively.)

That for one. And the Democrats already told the Republicans to go fuck themselves. that's why we are now stuck with plans to fuck this country over like Obama Care.
Because the Democrats ONLY wanted to increase taxes. How is that working with Republicans?

Edit, I'm not defending the Republicans because I like them (I do not). Just have to bring some truth to this one sided idea that Democrats would have saved us all if it weren't for the Republicans.

[BraveUlysses]

"layman" terms is giving too much credit, this is something you'd read on the wall of a public toilet stall.

[nrubenstein]

Dems controlled the House, Senate and Executive branch for the first two years of Obama's presidency. He passed all of his agenda, and where has it landed us?

The now R house has passed something like 22 jobs bills that Pelosi/Reid won't even let get to the floor for a vote in the Senate. Obama's "Jobs Bill" was designed never to pass and merely make the R's in the House look bad.

Dems still have the Senate/Executive, and it is THEY who refuse to compromise.

*keep in mind, I hate both sides equally*

Well, frankly, I strongly support universal health care. My primary objection to Obamacare is that it was castrated. As a minimum, everyone should have health insurance. If nothing else, effective primary care is a lot less expensive than constantly treating acute illnesses in the emergency room.

Of course, I also think that there should be some level of rationing. The fact that we routinely spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to add a few (unpleasant) months of life is utterly insane. I've watched people do that and it's horrible for them, horrible for their family and horrible for their friends. But that's neither here nor there.

The answer is very simple. The democrats were fucking cowards this spring and allowed the republicans to win the budget debate. If they had been at all sane, they would have allowed the GOP to shut the government down until they worked out a budget and debt ceiling deal. Instead, they let the GOP speed up (if not trigger) the current financial crisis.

So yes, Obama did kind of well for the first two years (although his incompetent communication allowed the GOP nut jobs to go around convincing old people that Obamacare would result in them getting put to death - how stupid are people?). Thanks to the level of crazy that made a program modeled on, uh, the GOP compromise position on Hillarycare or Romneycare synomous with death panels, the Republicans took control of the House. Since then, they have systematically obstructed practically everything that anybody has attempted to do.

[nrubenstein]

That for one. And the Democrats already told the Republicans to go fuck themselves. that's why we are now stuck with plans to fuck this country over like Obama Care.
Because the Democrats ONLY wanted to increase taxes. How is that working with Republicans?

Edit, I'm not defending the Republicans because I like them (I do not). Just have to bring some truth to this one sided idea that Democrats would have saved us all if it weren't for the Republicans.

So, what exactly is so horrible about Obamacare?