"Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

"You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store" 

            Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford 

To the Board of Director:

From:  The CEO

I would like to share some of the company’s facts and figures with you:
 
o       Over the last 30 years we have bought $725.8 billion worth of stuff from our suppliers over and above what we have sold to our customers.  Our accountant calls that red ink.  Eheh, eheh, eheh – I’m, speaking ‘accountant’. 
 
o       Some of what was bought was actually raw material for production, or products for re-sale.
 
o       Much of what we bought, however, was consumable: plush office furniture, raises, travel and other comforts and perks for our executives, and subsidized vending machine goodies and the occasional ballgame ticket (bread and circuses) for the employees (known as the consumers). 
 
o       Our cash flow picture has been negative for 3 decades.  The company has bought more than it has sold every year, year-after-year, since 1975.  This continuous negative cash flow, plus the huge bonuses and salaries for the top dogs,  has translated into, and contributed substantially over the years to, our huge budget deficit. 
  
o       The gap between the costs of what we sell and the cost of what we buy has grown huge over the years, and it is accelerating sharply.  We widened the gap to a record-breaking $725.8 billion last year.  That represents a 17.5 percent leap over the $617.6 billion dollars in the previous year - which itself was a record breaking year of red ink.
 
o       In order to cover the gap between what we sell and what we buy, we have to borrow from other businesses’ banks.  We do this by selling shares (known in DC as Treasury Bonds) of our company. 
 
o       A principle lender is The Central Bank of Communist China, which owns $201.6 billion, or 27.89 percent of our outstanding debt.   
 
o       The size of the pile of our stock they have accumulated over the years worries some people, including our accountant, but business is booming.  Eheh.
 
o       You might say we owe our soul to the Chinese Communist Store.  Heh, eheh, eheh. 
 
o       Most of the rest of the shares outstanding are held by Saudi Arabia, Japan, the Europeans and other rival companies.
 
o       I'm submitting an operating budget of $2.8 trillion for the coming year.  It's a whopper.  And while that does include a seven percent increase for our security forces, it does not include expenditures for ongoing issues with gaining controlling interest in other companies, especially in the Middle East.
 
o       Our accountant says we are just $4 billion below the borrowing limit of $7.384 trillion, so the board will have to get together over dinner and increase that limit again or we will be in a bind to run the company.
 

In summary, on a national/international level:
 
Our trade deficit is our negative cash flow situation vis-à-vis other businesses (countries) in the world.  

 We’ve been losing money every year since 1975!  And the rate is accelerating with our so called free trade agreements.

 “The $725.8 billion deficit, announced Friday by the Commerce Department, was a 17.5 percent leap from 2004's then-record deficit of $617.6 billion. The 2005 trade deficit equaled 5.8 percent of this country's gross domestic product, up from 5.3 percent of GDP in 2004 and 4.5 percent in 2003.”

 “Some $201.6 billion of the nation's trade deficit was with China alone, … “ 
 
Our budget deficit represents our borrowing on the house and kids to finance Peking Duck at the Ritz this evening.  We are the greatest consumer nation of all time, eclipsing the Romans during the time of the Roman Empire. 

"The government is just $4 billion below the legal borrowing limit as of Wednesday, according to the latest data.

"Treasury also invoked stop-gap accounting measures on Thursday to avoid piercing the congressionally mandated $7.384 trillion debt ceiling, which needs to be raised for the third time in three years."

And Sparus Dubyius Ignoramus is busy starving the national treasury for his Roman Patrician Cronies through unconscionable tax forgiveness while at the same time spending like a drunken sailor (with apologies to the sailor, who is at least squandering his own money) and short changing the less fortunate employees in our company.

“President Bush has submitted a U.S. government budget for the fiscal year beginning in October that totals $2.8 trillion.  VOA's Barry Wood reports that mainly because of tax cuts and the war in Iraq, the budget will be in deficit by an amount approaching nearly four percent of U.S. output (gross domestic product)”  VOA (Voice of America, NOT Voice of Arizona).

National debt clock:  A frightening look at our incomprehensible out-of-control finances in this country.
   
  
 
Look at me.  I have this beautiful home and an new car.  I belong to this country club.  And I’m in debt up to my arse.  Will somebody please help me?  (Paraphrased TV ad to lend you money on your house and kids – you probably have run across it).