guyver01
Lifer
Slate.com Article
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's reference to a $700 billion economic bailout for the nation's troubled financial institutions is a bit like watching a re-run of "Cosmos," featuring Carl Sagan. All that talk of billions and billions eventually can leave you speechless.
First, there are about 300 million men, women, and children in the United States. Keeping in mind that not all of them pay taxes, the bailout comes out to roughly $2,300 per person, about the same amount a typical American pays personally in taxes.
Twelve Bill Gateses is the equivalent of $700 billion.
The net worth of the entire Forbes 400 is about two times the cost of the bailout.
James Cameron would have to film 381 blockbusters as popular as his $1.8 billion "Titanic" to foot the bill.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the single-year cost of obesity in the United States was $117 billion in 2000, or about one-sixth the bailout.
The GDP of Florida alone was about $734Billion last year, about 5% of the National GDP.
The Netherlands GDP was $768.7Billion last year.
The Marshall Plan, which helped finance the recovery of Western Europe after World War II, cost the United States about $13 billion. Of course, in 2008 dollars that's more like $100 billion.
Should the Treasury receive authority from Congress to borrow $700 billion, the national debt will rise by only about 7 percent. Right now, it's sitting at $9.6 trillion.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's reference to a $700 billion economic bailout for the nation's troubled financial institutions is a bit like watching a re-run of "Cosmos," featuring Carl Sagan. All that talk of billions and billions eventually can leave you speechless.
First, there are about 300 million men, women, and children in the United States. Keeping in mind that not all of them pay taxes, the bailout comes out to roughly $2,300 per person, about the same amount a typical American pays personally in taxes.
Twelve Bill Gateses is the equivalent of $700 billion.
The net worth of the entire Forbes 400 is about two times the cost of the bailout.
James Cameron would have to film 381 blockbusters as popular as his $1.8 billion "Titanic" to foot the bill.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the single-year cost of obesity in the United States was $117 billion in 2000, or about one-sixth the bailout.
The GDP of Florida alone was about $734Billion last year, about 5% of the National GDP.
The Netherlands GDP was $768.7Billion last year.
The Marshall Plan, which helped finance the recovery of Western Europe after World War II, cost the United States about $13 billion. Of course, in 2008 dollars that's more like $100 billion.
Should the Treasury receive authority from Congress to borrow $700 billion, the national debt will rise by only about 7 percent. Right now, it's sitting at $9.6 trillion.
