Fools on the Hill (Capital Hill)

If you want to understand the magnitude of the recent debt and budget reduction actions agreed to by Congress and the President, this non-partisan example really puts it in perspective:

U.S. income: $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 (about 1 percent of the budget)

Now, It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Therefore, let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family:

Total annual income for the Jones family: $ 21,700
Amount of money the Jones family spent: $ 38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $ 16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the budget: $ 385

Like I said: Washington is FULL of FOOLS!
Maybe a more appropriate term: Idiots.