Presented without further comment:

You have an American Family. They spend $100,000 per year, however, they only make $60,000 per year in income. They are putting $40,000 a year on credit card debt, adding to their overall credit card debt that they have been carrying. Their credit limit is $480,000 (12 times their deficit spending). They are bumping up against that credit limit this year.

The family has to cut ALL credit card spending to avoid going over their credit limit. However, this family is seriously addicted to spending, so they just don’t understand the peril they are in. They go to their financial advisory and offer to cut $1,000 in spending, leaving their credit card spending at $39,000 for the year over and above their income.

This is where we are as a nation. We are running at our credit card limit, and we are only offering to cut a sliver of our overspending.