Looking Over the Fiscal Cliff

I saw something similar to this earlier today and thought it was rather clever:

The modern American, “Fiscal Cliff”, as seen from a different perspective:

Lesson #1:

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 cuts: $38,500,000,000


Now, let’s remove 8 zeros from everything above and pretend it’s a household budget:

Annual family income: $21,700
Money family spent: $38,200
New debt on the credit card: $16,500
Current outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Total household budget cuts so far: $38.50


Got it so far? Okay, now look at the "Debt Ceiling" from the same homeowner perspective:

Lesson #2:

Assume you come home one afternoon from work/the bar/the garden club/the golf course/your typical activity and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood during the day. Your home now has sewage inside all the way to the ceiling. What do you think you should do?…

Call a contractor to bring some jacks and raise the ceilings or pumps to remove the wastewater?