America's Family Budget

An analogy is currently being circulated by supporters of The One Percent that goes like this:

         “If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand."

I do like the above analogy, well-written by somebody who works for “The One Percent.”  But it’s not that simple.  I realize that making it more complicated will actually reflect reality, and because it will require people to think, will not be as widely read.  But the above analogy needs to consider who the family works for, what the family does for a living, and what The One Percent is orchestrating by circulating the analogy in the first place: 

The family works for a corporation called “The People,” of which 1 percent makes a total of $900,000 per year.  I call this group of people The One Percent, because they are an oligarchy that controls the family.  The other 99% of the people make a combined $100,000 per year. 

The family’s job is to perform three tasks:

1)  Protect all 100% of The People from other families.

2)  Make sure The One Percent can continue to earn their $900,000 per year while employing 97% of The Other 99%. 

Note:  The One Percent has currently reduced employment to 90% of The Other 99% in order to scare them into agreeing with the “Patobi's” as described below.

3)  Help The Other 99% make ends meet at the end of their life and provide a safety net for about 20% of the people (and this number is growing). 

It is extremely important to note:  Even though The Other 99% are the ones that actually lose their lives in the act of protection, The One Percent does not think that Task #3 should be a part of the family’s job.  The One Percent has even suggested that Task #3 is “Unamerican.”

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at that credit card debt:

A)  About $170,000 came when the The One Percent convinced the family to lower their income from $75,000 per year to $58,000 per year.  This has been going on for ten years now (17k x 10 = 170,000).

B)  Another $110,000 came when The One Percent convinced the family to start three wars in order to achieve goals 1 and 2 above.

C)  Another  $47,000 came when The Other 99% gave the family “a blank check” to deal with the affects of A and B above.

In order to properly do their job, the family either needs a $14,000 per year raise, to RETURN their income from $58,000 per year to $72,000 per year.  Or they need to cut back on what they do, or both.  Of the $72,000 per year:

I.  $29,000 goes to paying interest on the credit card debt.
II.  $36,000 goes to protection,
III.  The other $11,000 goes to Task # 3 above.

The One Percent, that earns $900,000 per year, gets to speak louder than everybody else, because “money is speech.”  And The One Percent does NOT want the family to cut back on protection (Task #1), because a big chunk of that $900,000 per year comes from the profits The One Percent makes off of that protection.  Instead, The One Percent wants the family to completely eliminate the $11,000 and do away with Task #3 altogether. 

Meanwhile, cutting completely back on Task #3 still does not solve the deficit . . . . there is still $3000 shortfall, but The One Percent doesn’t acknowledge this.  I fear they figure that once we’ve taken the $11,000 completely out of the family’s budget, they’ll take the $3000 out of the $100,000 the 99% are making.

The current head of the family would like to take “a balanced approach” to balancing the budget.  He’d like to increase the family’s income, cut back on the cost of protection, and if necessary cut back a little on the $11,000 going to The Other 99%.

But The One Percent has turned a large portion of The Other 99% (about 23%, based on the last poll showing the number of Americans who still thinks George W. Bush did a good job), into Patobi’s (“People Against Their Own Best Interest.”)  The Patobi’s have been taught to believe that it is in their best interest to get rid of task #3, and to lower the family’s income even more.

Though my extension of this analogy simplifies as well, it at least reflects a bit more of reality.  The family works for a whole bunch of people, but because money is speech, The One Percent controls the family’s income, what the family spends its money on, and now even the family’s job description.