Budget perspective

According to this document published by the Obama Administration, the projected federal deficit for fiscal year 2012 is $581 billion. That's based on receipts of $3.081 trillion and expenditures of $3.662 trillion. This is the equivalent of someone who makes $50,000 spending about $59,400.

Now, everyone has years where they spend more than they make. The bigger problem, however, is that debt held by the public in FY 2012 is projected at $10.985 trillion. That is the equivalent of the person with the $50,000 income spending $9,400 more than what they make when they are already over $178,000 in the hole.

But even this understates the problem, as a lone individual can both cut back their spending and increase their income through additional work, well performing investments or extraordinary circumstances (winning the lottery, large inheritance). This is not the case with government, where large sudden increases in revenue are unlikely, cuts in spending near impossible, and projections are for deficit spending to continue into the foreseeable future.

If an individual with such financial problems applied for a job, would you hire them? Would you be more or less inclined to give them additional responsibilities? Why should we take a different approach with the government?