Home economics

[TBWG]

“Fiscal Cliff” put in a much better perspective.

Lesson # 1:

* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed 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

Let's 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
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $38.50

Got It ??.......OK now,
 
 
Lesson # 2:
 
Here's another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:

Let's say, You come home from work and find
There has been a sewer backup in your neighbourhood....
And your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.

What do you think you should do ......

Raise the ceilings, or remove the shit?
 
TBWG

[smoooth2]

Dig a trench under the fence into your neighbours yard for a starter

[TBWG]

Dig a trench under the fence into your neighbours yard for a starter

 

TBWG

[Nobby]

Call in the proffesionals with the right tools and expertise to resolve the problem.

[smoooth2]

I really believe that one of the biggest problems in society is Credit Cards. Access to easy money is a huge tempation for far too many people. Debit Cards are the way to go. All the flexibility of plastic, but if you don't have the money in your account, then you can't spend it !!

I taught my kids right from the start to cut up their Credit Cards. I've never had a Credit Card ... only a Debit Card.

Of course, we all need a big loan at various stages in our lives ... house, car etc ... but never, never link it to a credit card.

In Australia, we hardly noticed the GFC a few years ago. Sure it was headline news night after night, but it really had very little impact on Australians. Mainly because of our heavily regulated banking system, and our mining industry.

Queensland and Western Australia are the "quarry to the world", and the mining royalties flowing into the Govt coffers are truly staggering. Kept us afloat during the GFC.

All Aussies regularly have a whinge about the profits that our 4 major national banks make each year, but because they are so heavily regulated, when the GFC crunch arrived, they had the capital reserves behind them to absorb most of the pain.

Most Aussies will probably agree that Australians are over Governed to a large extent ... too many laws wrapping the citizens in cotton wool ... but financially ... our Regulators are doing their job really well ... IMHO

Australia must surely be one of the most stable financial countries in the world. Now ... if we can just get past the Quarter Finals of the World Cup !!