Federal Spending Mental Calculator

Gary North

Oct. 3, 2009

I offer this handy mental trick to estimate your family's share of Federal spending.

First, there are about 100 million households in the United States. This number becomes the denominator.

Second, a billion dollars divided by 100 million is $10.

So, every time you read that the Federal government is going to spend a billion dollars, assume that it's going to cost you $10.

The mental trick is to multiply the figure in front of the word "billion" by $10.

Will the deficit rise by $500 billion? Your household's share will be $5,000 ($500 x 10).

These days, when the deficit rises by a trillion dollars a year, you must multiply by 10,000. Sorry about that.

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