BY David Graeber NY Daily News Thursday, April 21st 2011
We have to live within our means. That's what President Obama repeatedly tells us, echoing a point Republicans have been making for years. Like households, governments must husband our resources and balance our budgets, or future generations will surely pay.
There's a problem here. The analogy is ridiculous. Government budgets - and the U.S. budget in particular - are absolutely nothing like a household budget.
Here are five reasons why:
1. Households can't levy taxes.
True, governments, like households, have revenue coming in and expenses to be paid out. But if the breadwinner in a family has a job, he doesn't get to decide what he's paid for it. The U.S. government can charge its employer (the taxpayer) pretty much anything it wants to.