Friday, October 9, 2009
A Record Deficit, Put in Perspective
This article discusses the United States' new amount of federal budget deficit for the 2009 fiscal year - a record high. It explains a few of the possible sources and reasons for the drastic increase in the amount - $459 billion to $1.4 trillion. After this, it gives an interesting way of understanding the amount of money that really is - explaining it in several different ways. It is an eye-opening view of the amount of the deficit incurred by the US.
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3 comments:
This is so enlightening. It's very easy for people, particularly politicians, to toss around figures, but I think few people really think about what those numbers mean. Sure, a trillion sounds like a lot, but it clearly is a lot when you see it on pallets! I also like that the article specifies each person's share of the $1.4 trillion deficit: $4,590! I suspect that some people would be more wary of increasing the deficit if they looked at it from this perspective.
I completely agree with Christian. The deficit is something most people know very little about but this article puts it in terms that are very easy to understand.
I really liked reading this article because it definitely puts things into perspective. Often times, it is unreasonable to even begin to grasp the amount of a trillion dollars. I like what Christina said about people realizing how much money this really is. There might be different views and actions from people if they actually stopped to think about how much money is being dealt with. Just to think that each person owes $4,590 is crazy. Specifically because this could include a seven year old!
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