Your Uncle Sam's budget

To better grasp the sausage-making that shapes the 2012 federal budget, pretend that Uncle Sam is simply a middle-class wage earner. Slate.com writes: "You, my friend, are deep in the red. You are not pulling in as much as you are spending. Not only that, you have no plans to reverse this state of affairs—that is, to spend less than you are making—for the next decade, regardless of whether you get a big raise or your costs drop. Instead, you are planning to add more and more to your overall debt, making bigger and bigger interest payments on your loans. That's right: You, my friend, are the United States government." As Slate notes upfront, comparing the nation's budget to households is mostly a fool's errand. Yours is not so complicated. Plus you can't print money. That said, Slate's simplified (and entertaining) explanation is helpful -- and sobering. Long story short: We're in deep kimchi, friends. Read the piece here.