Another good visualization is What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

And the follow on: U.S. National Debt in $100 bills. And that was in March, 2009!

People -- the U.S. is broke. And essentially the rest of the world is too. We just have to find a way to cut everything back to the nubs.

Here's my list:

• Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- Sunset the food stamps -- dump the subsidies over 2-3 yeaars.


• Department of Commerce -- Why do they even exist?


• Department of Defense -- Needed - but cut back the mission(s) and close most overseas bases to a care taking status.


• Department of Education -- Gone.


• Department of Energy -- Gone except for the Nuke Regulatory Committee.


• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) -- Gone except for the CDC. The rest transitioned to the states.


• Department of Homeland Security -- Gone, yesterday. I'll argue that we need the Intelligence Agencies. They should share data and talk. But they also need to tell the Emperor he's naked.


• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) -- Gone -- sell all the apartments and houses to the current resident for $1k or $10.


• Department of Interior -- Gone -- sell the parks back to private industry. Let them try to find a way to make money. I would put some codicils on the sales.


• Department of Justice -- Needed -- but some of the divisions -- such as Civil Rights and VAWA types need to be severely reformed.


• Department of Labor -- Gone.


• Department of State -- Unfortunately we need them. :-(


• Department of Transportation -- NTSB is needed. The FAA should be 97% privatized (Minimum standards for controllers). Get the technology up to the point that planes can be put on route and the onboard and ground systems can de-conflict the routes.


• Department of Treasury -- Needed. But take the money back from the Federal Reserve.


• Department of Veterans Affairs -- Needed -- but its budget should shrink over time as WWII vets pass and the DOD shrinks.

The FCC -- its only purpose should be to de-conflict radio frequencies.

The EPA -- check for major pollutants.

Well done!

"People -- the U.S. is broke. And essentially the rest of the world is too. We just have to find a way to cut everything back to the nubs."

Alternatively you could just borrow a few trillion more, print trillions more new dollars, and hope the whole thing keeps going just long enough that it collapses when the next guy is in power so they get all the blame.

Lobster --

Look up quantitative easing.

We are so hosed.