[Darris McNeely] A few days ago we did a daily to talk about the debt in the European Euro crisis and how Germany was interacting with all the countries over there. We used the comparison of a credit card and a debit card to illustrate the strength of the problem over there. We got a lot of good comments on that and Gary has come into the studio to do some Beyond Today taping this week and we thought we would bring that down to the American national debt and make a comparison on the individual level to show exactly what that means and how big it really is.

[Gary Petty] When you look at the crush of the federal debt and what the government owes and what it spends and we get the terms, you know, we get the figures - millions and trillions of dollars. It doesn't mean anything. I mean, what do trillions of dollars mean? But when we break it down into figures you and I can understand, it gets a little scary. Now to really illustrate what the federal government takes in and spends and what its debt is, let's put it in these terms, which are the same ratios for a family. What if you have a family of four and they make $46,000 a year. In the United States a family of four makes $46,000 a year. But they spend $78,000 a year. And we can say, "Wow, there's already a problem." But now let's add onto that credit card debt of $281,000. Now if you look at this you would say, "This family is going to collapse because they can't pay their bills." In fact, you…

[Darris McNeely] It's unsustainable.

[Gary Petty] Oh, you can't even pay the credit card interest. So this won't work. This is the state of our federal government and our federal debt.

[Darris McNeely] And actually since we came up with these numbers they have probably grown because the debt is growing at such a rate on a weekly basis that it's incalculable. So these numbers are probably obsolete right now.

[Gary Petty] Which is frightening because you realize that unless something happens, just like a family of four would face total economic collapse if they tried to live like this, the United States, if something does not change, is going to face eventually total economic collapse.

[Darris McNeely] Probably the biggest lesson to take away - don't live like this. That's what it comes down to for you and I. Hopefully you're not. That's BT Daily. Join us next time.