Letters: Federal debt

Published: Tuesday, March 19 2013 12:00 a.m. MDT

Almost half of American households don't pay any federal income tax, according to CNNMoney.

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Summary

Guy on the bus: "Why the huge federal debt? I couldn't run my household that way."

Me: "O.K., how do you run your household? Do you have a mortgage?"

Guy: "Yes."

Me: "How much do you still owe on your student loans?"

Guy: "Uh, a lot."

Me: "Did you borrow to buy your wife that car she uses to go to work?"

Guy: "Yeah."

Me: "If you add up all that debt, how does it compare to your annual income?"

Guy: "Oh, it's like more than five years of income."

Me: "The federal debt is equal to about one year of its income. Sounds like you're five times as irresponsible as the government. I'm sure glad we don't run the country the way you run your household."

Breck England

Bountiful

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The Real Maverick

Orem, UT

If repubs think that Obama is a big spender then they must have really hated Reagan.

1:35 p.m. March 19, 2013
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JACC

Bluffdale, UT

Breck, I think you are a bit confused. In rough terms, the current US spending is about $4T (trillion) a year, income is about $3T, deficit is about $1T, and debt is about $16T. In other words, the country's debt is currently more than five More..

9:39 a.m. March 19, 2013
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Kent C. DeForrest

Provo, UT

Well, nice try, but as has been pointed out more often than I can count, a nation's budget is not at all similar to a family's budget. The nation's budget has to account for all sorts of things a family can conveniently ignore. I More..

10:12 a.m. March 19, 2013
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