I really feel that concept of big money is the one that people have the hardest time comprehending. When someone makes say $50,000 a year to them talking about debts of $20 Trillion have absolutely no context.
Same goes with all of the entitlement programs everyone would like to be put into place. One that is starting to be talked about is a Universal Basic Income. This sounds great, but even at $12,000 a year (which many in the US would then argue is to little) where would this money come from?
In the US it is estimated that 45 million people live in Poverty. If we say that the Basic Income will be given only to these people we are talking about ($12,000 x 45,000,000) $540,000,000,000....that is a lot of zeros to say 540 Billion Dollars.
Due to the way the Federal Income Tax is collected it's estimated that with the new tax rates 45% of Americans will pay zero Federal Income Taxes. So that $540 billion added expense would then fall on the shoulders of the other 55%.
540,000,000,000 paid by 98,000,000 is an added tax bill of $5,510 per tax payer who actually pays taxes. Now we are at a number that people can relate to.
$5,510 a year in added taxes would mean someone in the middle class like myself no longer takes vacations, does less repairs around the house, puts less away for retirement, and buys a car less often. No matter how you cut it we will spend less money into the economy. This reduction in spending will mean less low skill jobs pushing more people into the poverty level as they can't find work.
Now the slippery slope gets even more slippery. With medical insurance subsidized for low income earners, with food subsidized, with housing subsidized, and now a basic income now matter what as long as your income falls below a set level why would people try to get out of this situation?
As more people start collecting this income and less are paying any federal taxes what happens to the tax bill of those paying taxes? Simple each year it will need to be increased to keep up with the ever growing needs of those who are collecting free money.
There is a breaking point in economics as which point you stop production because it's no longer profitable to keep your doors open. This will apply to working people.
As taxes increase and cost of health insurance cost skyrockets people will reach a point that they will just stop working and collect the easy money. Take the free healthcare, free cell phone, free food, free housing, and have an income to use for whatever they want.
Sorry to go off topic a little, but this is the exact problem with using big numbers when we are talking about issues that effect real people. Politicians love to confuse issues with big numbers as people just can't comprehend what they mean and can't possibly comprehend the effects of those big numbers. These number are never broken down into an amount that relates to their life situation.