A few benchmarks for understanding the federal budget numbers.

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These days we hear a lot of really big numbers being bandied about and it is hard to grasp what they mean. I'd like to have a benchmark or two. You know, like when the travel book tells you that a five star restaurant averages $75 a meal, and the local family restaurant is $12.50. I can look in my wallet and see what fits my resources.

The first benchmark to fix in your mind is how much money does the US Government get from all sources, other than borrowing, each year. It's about $2.4 trillion ($2,400,000,000,000).

The second benchmark is how much the US spends. It's about half a trillion ($500,000,000,000) more than it takes in or $2.9 trillion.

The third benchmark is the amount that the US spends on entitlement programs (social security, medicare, medicaid, government and veterans pensions mainly). Entitlements cost about 1.8 trillion.

Interest on the US debt is about a quarter trillion ($250,000,000,000).

Uncle Sam gives almost all of the money he gets to old folks, veterans, and people who need medical care. What's left, about half a trillion, isn't enough to do everything else. Hell, defense alone costs more than that. So that's why we need to borrow half a trillion a year.

There's a big problem here. It's not sustainable. Back in 2008, before the election, when the Republicans were running things, a nifty little report was published called "The Federal Government's Financial Health" and it said just that -- not sustainable. They were looking at 2007 numbers, before the financial crisis, before the bailout, before the stimulus, and before the Obama budget.



The reason it's not sustainable is those entitlements and the interest on the debt are growing fast.



It's crunch time unless we roll back those expenses or jack up taxes. If we jack up taxes, who's going to pay them?



Well, take a look at your W2 form. See where you fit in the table above. It's you and me who are going to pay, and our kids, and our grandkids. Oh the rich folks will pick up about 2/3's of the tab, just like they have been doing, maybe more if the income tax gets more progressive. But all of us will be paying something, and it will hurt.

And yes we have some hard choices to make. How would you balance the budget? Would you summarize your answer in a sound bite for the 11 o'clock news?

Authors Website: http://rbshreve.com

Authors Bio:

Richmond Shreve is a retired business executive whose careers began in electronics (USN) and broadcasting in the 1960s. Over the years he has maintained a hobby interest in amateur radio, and the audio-visual arts while working in sales and marketing. For the last thirty years he was co-owner and CEO of the Middlebrook Crossroads business park (Edmar Corporation) in Bridgewater, NJ. He holds a lifetime FCC Second Class Commercial license, and an amateur radio General Class license (W2EMU). In 2012 Richmond retired from instructing sports car owners in high performance driving techniques at major tracks including NJ Motorsports Park, Watkins Glen, and Summit Point. He is the author and publisher of the Instructor Candidate Manual used by BMWCCA and other car clubs to train their on-track instructors.

Prior to moving to Newtown,PA, he volunteered as chief engineer of WCFA the Cape May, NJ community radio station as well as working as a gaffer on the Cape May Film Festival technical crew, a driver/engineer in the Cape May Point Volunteer Fire Company, served as its Treasurer and as Treasurer of its Firemen's Relief Association. He edited and printed the Cape May Point Taxpayer's Association Newsletter.

As a computer power user, graphic artist, photographer, and website designer he helps nonprofits build and maintain web sites. He is a fromer Vestry member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent.
Richmond is a citizen journalist and former Senior Editor at OpEdNews.com, a progressive news and opinion site on the internet.

Richmond lives with his wife Marguerite Chandler in Newtown, PA wher he continues to write essays ad short fiction. They travel extensively with their fifth wheel RV.

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Books:
Lost River Anthology (Amazon.com)
Instructor Candidate Manual (LuLu.com)