Fiscal cliff, an Australian view

I know a lot of Americans don't like it when people from other countries post about your domestic issues. However someone posted this on my facebook, its something that's been put on a wall in an Australian bank to help the employees understand the fiscal cliff. How accurate is this coming from an Australian perspective?

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Ahahahahahaha

I have nothing to contribute because I don't know the numbers, but I thought it was a good way to put it.

Why was it put on a wall in Australia though? Relevance?

I've seen this all over facebook. Ha.

That post has been all over the news and facebook here. I dont personally think it originated in AU but maybe it did.

Lol it depends on who you are talking to I guess.

The U.S. Government's spending is out of control.

The part on a family's annual income Idk about. Our household income is 3x's that and we actually manage to save money and live very comfortable, but honestly my husband works really hard for us to get a head/

Quoting Jennybananna:" That post has been all over the news and facebook here. I dont personally think it originated in AU but maybe it did."

Don't live in America so not sure about what's on the news .... yeah everything I've found says its from an Australian bank.

Quoting Tiffany Knickerbocker:" Lol it depends on who you are talking to I guess. The U.S. Government's spending is out of control. ... [snip!] ... and we actually manage to save money and live very comfortable, but honestly my husband works really hard for us to get a head/"

That wasn't a testament to family income, it was putting the large government numbers into perspective.

i have to agree with it..... Our spending is out of control and no one know how to STOP spending....

It seems pretty accurate to me! Unfortunately it's so screwed up and people are so stubborn about what they are "entitled" to, I doubt it'll get fixed.  

This is what I found on the National Debt

This is what I found on the National Debt U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 10 Jan 2013 at 01:45:26 AM GMT is:


The estimated population of the United States is 314,208,830
so each citizen's share of this debt is $52,312.70. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.85 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

Unfortunately most Americans have not taken the time to educate themselves on the numbers. Instead they assume that those who don't want to pay more taxes are greedy and selfish, when in reality most of us simply want our government to spend more wisely before we hand over more.

Quoting Bangtail:" Unfortunately most Americans have not taken the time to educate themselves on the numbers. Instead they ... [snip!] ... are greedy and selfish, when in reality most of us simply want our government to spend more wisely before we hand over more."

This

It's very accurate.

You cannot spend your way out of debt. It's a Keynesian type of thinking and it's completely backward...at least on this big of a scale.

If I maxed out my Visa, would it be wise to raise my spending limit or stop spending and pay off my debt. As a matter of fact, my credit card would probably raise my credit limit once...maybe twice. After that, they'd refuse and possibly even revoke my card.

If I were a CFO of a company and my company habitually incurred debt, only paying interest, it wouldn't be long before that CFO would be fired...or it could just shut down business. If you don't pay on big purchases, they repossess your (their) stuff!

Our government is bloated and it has a HUMONGOUS spending problem. Case in point, the United States has NEVER made a single principle payment on any debt it owes. Not one penny.

Quoting ~Julie Blue Eyes~:" It's very accurate. You cannot spend your way out of debt. It's a Keynesian type of thinking and it's ... [snip!] ... problem. Case in point, the United States has NEVER made a single principle payment on any debt it owes. Not one penny."

    

I agree with this and they need to start paying it back or we will be in a depression AGAIN.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Destiel:</b>" I know a lot of Americans don't like it when people from other countries post about your domestic issues. ... [snip!] ... bank to help the employees understand the fiscal cliff. How accurate is this coming from an Australian perspective? . "</blockquote>




As someone else pointed out, our debt is much higher than the one mentioned in then OP.
And as someone else said, most people here haven't taken the time to understand the situation we are in and the fact that nothing is being done to make an improvement.
The recent increase in tax rates on "the evil rich" amounts to 7-8 days of federal spending.
Also, our president has said A NUMBER OF TIMES that we don't have a spending problem. The only thing he wants to cut is our military. But, people just renewed his contract for 4 more years.