Yo: 700 billion divided by 200 million = only a few thousand dollars

[patandchickens]

I posted this on another thread but it seems to be becoming such a pervasive myth I just wanted to say it separately:

The proposed $700,000,000,000 (seven hundred billion) bailout, divided by let's say roughly 200,000,000 (two hundred million) American adults, equals THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER PERSON.

That's $3,500 and zero cents. Slightly less than four thousand dollars per person.

NOT any of this hundreds of thousands of dollars stuff that rumor has it.

Do the math yourself. Your calculator may not have enough decimal places to handle billions - either cast off 100 or so, or do it on your computer's calculator utility.

A few thousand bucks ain't gonna do any of this paying off mortgages sending kids to college saving for retirement stuff that is being talked about.

Not a fan of rumors but especially not if they are really blatantly STUPID ones

,

Pat

 

[EweSheep]

Jeez, that is a chunk of change!

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

I had done the math the other day when I saw people saying how far the 700 billion would go.

What folks need to do is take advantage of the situation. You can ACTUALLY make money off the current economic crisis.

Monday was a meltdown for the Canadian stock market as well. I wasn't selling tho. I was buying.

The TSX dropped 840 points on Monday but recovered 467 points today. What does this mean??

I bought 1,000 shares of "Research In Motion" which makes the Blackberry late Monday. I sold those shares today after they rose $5.74/share or 8.7% for a gross profit of $5,740.

Another stock I bought..."Fording Canadian Coal Trust" was up $8.15/share or 10.3%. I only had 200 shares of that but my gross profit was $1,630.

I also lost just over $2,500 on other stocks, but at days end I'm up almost $5,000 less my broker's fees.

There is money to be made in this unstable market. While I would never encourage anyone to play the STOCK MARKET without a BROKER, I would advise everyone to at least follow the trends & learn about the daily fluctuations that are going on.

Anyone can start small, & make money during hard economic times.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Well, anyone with money available for investing.

But those who are eating beans and rice and still losing the house to the bank, with or without layoffs involved... maybe not so much

There are more folks like that than you might imagine.

Just sayin',

Pat

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

Well I don't like beans, but rice I enjoy.

I wasn't born with the proverbial "Silver Spoon" in my mouth. I worked hard, & took heed of my late father's words. "Put away 10% of your paycheck for a rainy day, cause there will be a monsoon in your lifetime" and "Buy land, cause they are'nt making any more of it"

I will admit that I've been lucky with both the Real Estate market & investments. I was also self employed for most of my working life.

What I'm saying is, with a little planning & determination, anyone can MAKE money regardless of the economy. I was able to retire at 44 years of age. The past 2 years have really been kinda like being a teenager again. I do what I enjoy, & don't worry about the ups & downs of the world.

People need to think outside the box, & make calculated risks to better themselves and their family. You will never be rich working 9 to 5 for someone else. Just sayin....

 

[susancoyotesfan]

Gee, what could I do with $3500...??

Build a front porch, get gutters and a cistern installed...or build a back patio, install a greenhouse, and put up fencing around my entire property...or spend it entirely on a vacation for my husband and myself in an exotic location like Turkey -- we already have the frequent flier miles for that.

Any bailout that doesn't include helping WE THE PEOPLE not Wall Street isn't in our best interests. It will only teach wall st that they can be greedy and irresponsible -- and our govt will get them out of their spot.

What was mortgage ins. for if not to cover these bad debts with the companies?? How could they go wrong with that -- they get the property AND get to cash in on the insurance money when the homeowner defaults!

Hmmm...what if we invested that magical number of $700 billion WISELY?? Such as: Invest in infrastructure: railways, waterways, and public thoroughways. Invest in education, trade schools, and manufacturing so we can make our OWN stuff like we did just 40 years ago! Invest in preventative health care for every citizen. Think of the possibilities. We could really, truly, make America great again.

 

[orcasislandchickens]

So our families share of this mess (3500 each) is 22,000 dollars. And interest. I'm sorry but we are paying every one of us one way or another. We never spent that money, but we could use it. Our town doesn't have a sewer system and with all the growth we realy need it bad. 2000-2500 dollars a household was too much though. So I will continue to live work and garden on a street where you smell raw sewage when it rains (and it rains a lot). Oh and we have no stormwater infastructure either. (town not incorporated no money)

The thing is I have been careful, and frugal, and with the exception of my mortgage, which I PAY, debt free.

Well guess not.

Of course we'll be suffering through the hard times too, but we won't qualify for credit if we need it because credit goes to those who have a rating and continue to buy lots of stuff, not to those who pay things off.

And since we are in that bracket (finally) considered safe to raise taxes on, we'll be covering the cost for a few less fortunate folk as well. 40,000 maybe ? I wish they'd just let us send it in and get it over with, but noooo. This will be paid with interest for probably the rest of my life. Who knows? Im getting ready to lay down and bleed greenbacks.

Buisness as usual.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Thanks, Pat

I've mentioned this fact at least twice now too.
Yes, it is a tremendous amount of money, but not the $450,000 that some people seem to think it is. Do I hate the idea, yes!!! My paper today mentioned what else could be bought with that amount, so as a comparision, here is some of that

The Iraq war so far $650 billion
rebuild the nations bridges 4X (remember Minneapolis)
1750 bridges to nowhere
pay for all the upgrading of coastal levees since Katrina....700X
run European country, Denmark's GDP for 2007 was $312 billion
buy 70 Hubbles or 7 space station or go back to the moon about 5x
pay the US intellegence budget for 15 years
provide 2X the money spent on New Deal building projects
pay off the $550 billion in student loans, with money left over.

If we had done something 5 years ago, all this money could be available for other things....

 

[CarlaRiggs]

If this is thought of a 'buy out' instead of a 'bail out', then it may make a little more sense. In broad terms, the feds are purchasing this debt at 30-50 cents on the dollar. The odds are in our favor that housing will rebound to a certain extent. Then the Federal government will make a profit.
Buy low, sell high type of mentality.
What is necessary is to prevent those CEOs and others in charge from receiving a golden parachute or other enormous cash bonus. While I believe in letting the free market do its thing, this government sponsored and not the market.
Unemployment in the U.S. is hovering around 6%. This is not bad at all. Our 401K has been hit, but the idea is to hold fast and not panic, as CLRTeam stated.
By the way, we eat rice and beans.

My husband makes a good salary; our ninth child is entering college next year and we have debt only for our home. It's always a good idea to acquire and rice/beans way of life no matter the circumstances.

Carla