Through a promotion and work transfer, I had the opportunity to live in the U.S from 1993 through to 1996. While it was a great experience for both myself and my family, situations that have arisen south of the border over the past several years including 9/11 and the economic meltdown of 2008 certainly have made me appreciate being back home in Canada.
I have followed the catastrophic collapse of the U.S. real estate market closely. Every few months I go online to check on the value of my old home just west of Chicago, only to find that it's value has dropped further below what I sold it for back in 1996. Whether or when the U.S. real estate market can regain some degree of normalcy or the U.S. can once again become a leading global economy is something we could debate for hours.
An email is circulating that very effectively puts into perspective the plight of the American economy in a way that is easy for the layperson to understand. It effectively looks as follows:
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
NOTE: If you now remove 8 zeros from the above numbers and we pretend this is a household budget, here’s how things would look:
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: $385
Most would agree, this is not a pretty picture and its affect on the Canadian economy remains to be seen.
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