Making Sense of "Trillions"

I can remember when Presidents asked Congress to raise the national debt level by "millions of dollars"....and we all gasped, gulped, and swallowed the bitter pill. Little did we know we would look back at those times in envy.

Now we have the different branches of our federal government arguing over trillions of dollars. We've become so accustomed to the new magnitude that when someone mentions cutting a few billion dollars in waste, we tend to wonder why the bother...it's only a few billion.

It's all rather impossible to grasp actually, and so like frogs in a slowly warming pot we don't see disaster coming as the temperature of our debt gets hotter and hotter. To get a grasp on what all of the budget arguments actually mean let's break it all down into something we can understand and connect to...dollars per individual head of household.

Based on the US Census, we can make a nice round estimate of about 100,000,000 head of household working folk in the US for the next decade. That's easy to work with....a trillion dollars means $10,000 per taxpayer. It's much easier to picture what "trillion" means when it's broken down to our individual share.

Let's start by looking at current debt: long term debt first...it's the scariest...it's like your mortgage so to speak. At this time it's over 120 trillion dollars...or 1.2 million dollars for each wage earner. Of course you have an entire lifetime to pay this debt off...so what the heck. You can rest easy...unless of course you realize that this long-term debt is bound to grow. Your share is going to end up to be a lot more.

Short term debt, much like a credit card debt, is now over 15 trillion dollars. Oh good...that's only about $150,000 for your share....of course that's due this year...and it's on top of your annual payment on the long-term debt. Starting to get queasy yet?

Well breathe easy...the Republicans in congress are fighting for a reduction in expenses that will cut your share of the annual short-term debt...by nearly $1,000.  That means your payment will only be $149,000.  Oh hurrah, hurrah...

But wait...the Dems are furious and want to "compromise" with their more fiscally conservative bretheren. They are reminding us their compromise also cuts expenses...but after taking into account the differences in accounting jargon...their "cuts" come to only about $100.

Just so you keep this straight: your "mortgage" debt is $1,200,000....your "credit card" debt is $150,000...and congress is offering to reduce your overall debt by $100. Goodness sakes, joy almighty, and hallelujah...where do I sign up?

Obviously...we'd rather have our debt cut by $1,000...but would that save your family from bankruptcy and ruin? Not hardly! Remember...these numbers are not imaginary...this is not simply an exercise to help comprehend what the national debt argument is all about. This is money you ACTUALLY OWE! Of course you can pretend it's not real....

I've tried...doesn't seem to be helping.