Friday, August 12, 2011

Deja vu all over again. Federal debt per family "improves" like WOW.

Well - I am back after hiatus of more than a year. My slight bepuzzlement at the US congressional budget "deal", with R's and D's square dancing down Pennsylvania Avenue, has suckered me in yet again to blabbing here.


First, recall my post of June 30, 2009, as I considered the last federal FY of Bush (W) and the first nearly completed FY of Obama (H). Now archived in:
I wrote June 30, 2009: 
"So I thought I just might run the numbers as a quick intro to what I really want to get to today. Again using the 2007 number of 111.2 million households, that means that each American household was blessed with a one-year increase of a RECORD $4100 in the 2007-2008 Federal budget (ending September 30, 2008). That is about what my two old used cars are worth combined. But, hey, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. The projected 2008-2009 one-year Federal deficit pencils out to $16,600 per household. And you were worried about paying off that washer and dryer on your credit card? That is just dust on the scales compared to the Fed deficit numbers. It's like you just bought a new car and your kids signed the promissory note. Oh - and another new car next year, and the next, and ..."

Coming now to the 2011-12 budget deal, I find the picture has actually "improved" (from $16,600 increase in federal debt per year per household) to only an increase of $14,600 per household in the coming Fed fiscal year. So please forgive my prior cynicism - how insensitive it was of me. 


Here are the numbers for the recent 2011-12 budget "deal":

Households 113 M (per census)
Federal budget (spending) $33,800 per household
Federal income $19,200 per household
Increase in federal debt (in one year only) $14,600 per hh.
And the "cuts" totaled $341 per family per year.

Shall we joyfully sing and dance? Maybe barefooot on the White House lawn? If the aforeused word "bepuzzlement" is a word, this is surely ...

Respectfully submitted - but with bepuzzlement,

D.U.
P.S.   Darwin is still dead, his toxins linger. More soon I hope.
P.P.S. This post modified Aug 16 to correct Fed budget number and Fed spending figure. I left off one zero from each. But the $14,600 increase in family debt for the first FY of the budget "deal" was correct.