$700 Billion Benchmark
It's interesting how the $700 billion bailout number has become a new benchmark. More popular than "cost of X days in Iraq." Everything looks so cheap when you compare it against the bailout.
I listened to a program about children's health insurance on the radio the other day. A guest was talking about State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). She said basically "if we can spend $700 billion on bailing out the banks, we can afford to spend $70 billion to insure all children in this country." What do you think about this new benchmark?
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2 Comments on $700 Billion Benchmark
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Brent on November 6, 2008 |
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Using 700B as a benchmark is really ridiculous because the 700B was not an expenditure, it was just an investment. The taxpayers could end up making money on our federal foray into investing. I seriously doubt it since it will be undoubtedly mismanaged, selling the assets in the secondary market for pennies on the dollar at the worst possible time. But i digress! If bloggers need a spending benchmark, then use a true expenditure like defense spending or welfare entitlements. I'll accept it as a conversational benchmark if and only if every single purchased asset becomes worthless, effectively rendering the bailout an overpriced toilet paper purchase.
A million is not what it used to be anymore. Folks now talk in billions, which just shows the magnitude of the problem. Give me a million dollars and I can definetly do more with it than the government ever could.
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