What if your family spent like the government?

[WhiteHouseForum]

President Obama unveiled the administration's 2010 spending propsal this week...$3.8 trillion with a projected budget deficit of $1.56 trillion. This is against the backdrop of current national debt of $12.4 trillion.

If you're like me, I'm sure all these numbers seem like "just numbers". I started to try and do some math on my cheap little chinese made calculator today until I realized it doesn't even go up to a trillion!

But what I do understand, as I'm sure you do as well, is my personal budget and lifestyle. So what if we equate our government's spending to the average family?

The median household income in the U.S. is approximately $50,000, which my trusty little calculator had no problem digesting. This is of course before taxes but let's be generous to ourselves and use the $50,000 as the basis of our comparison.

A budget deficit of $1.56 trillion means that our government will have "income" (tax revenues) of $2.24 trillion. This means the government is spending 170% of its "income", which would equate to the average household making $50,000 spending $85,000. Then there is the $12.4 trillion national debt. That's equivalent to a household making $50,000..spending $85,000 while carrying a debt of $277,000.

One other factor to consider for perspective is that this average household is doing this spending after having had to take a pay cut last couple of years.

Simple math I know but I think most of us are simple people just trying to make ends meet and struggling to live within our means.

So how long could this average household go on spending and piling on debt at this rate? First thing to go would be the credit score..then having to pay increasingly higher interest rates on money borrowed to pay for their spending spree. Then finally, complete loss of credit.

I'm sure some of us have known or read about people who've accumulated ridiculous amount of debt due to their irresponsible spending habits. There's even been TV shows and newscasts about such people. What would be your reaction upon hearing about someone running into financial problems because they "just had to have" this or that and running up thousands of debt they couldn't afford to pay? I just think they brought it upon themselves and now they are paying for it...and that I'm glad it wasn't my money and my future.

The only thing is, the money being spent by our government is our money, our future, and our country...