Fiscal Cliffs and Debt Ceilings

"Fiscal Cliff" put in a much better perspective.

Lesson #1

US Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal Budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New Debt:       $1,650,000,000,000
National Debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent Cuts:       $38,500,000,000

Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:

Annual family income:      $21,700.00
Money the family spent:    $38,200.00
New debt on credit card:   $16,500.00
Outstanding card balance: $142,710.00
Total budget cuts so far:      $38.50

Lesson #2

Let's say you come home from work and find there's been a sewer backup in your neighborhood and your home has sewage all the way to your ceilings.

What do you think you should do? 
a) Raise the ceilings
b) Remove the shit