But hey, we’re going to cut $100 million! (Pay no attention to the fact that this represents only 0.003% of the total $3.5 trillion budget.)
Greg Mankiw offers the following comparison using numbers that are more readily comprehensible to those of us who don’t have trillions at our disposal:
To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had to be cut? By $3 over the course of the year–approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.
Hey, at least it looks like Obama’s trying to make cuts. I mean, his policies may be wrong but at least he’s symbolically in the right place. Right?
*crickets*
