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[randomness]

From http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/10/03/euromillions-to-the-rescue/:

I was very impressed by the reasoning of a witty young American, of the on-the-street type, who was being interviewed about the world financial situation in one of those inane swoops that modern newscasters feel that they have to do to find out what the people think. He argued that since so many trillion dollars were needed to bail out the banks and since there were so may hundred million Americans, why not instead give a million to each and every American. What a party that would be! Sub prime mortgages would all get paid off, everyone would have cash in their pockets to buy, buy, buy and would it be any worse than giving it to just a few men in suits. Most probably not, though if I am anything to go by I don’t suppose the money would last long, but what the heck it would be fun while it lasted. The only problem is that the American government does not actually possess trillions, nor do its people. It owes trillions, and its bail out of the banks will just be more of the same: notional credits chasing notional debts.

Comments

[happyfunpaul.livejournal.com]

Someone needs to work on the math of big numbers, if they're "very impressed by the reasoning." Seems to me that 700 billion dollars divided by 300 million Americans is slightly more than $2,000 per person, a far cry from $1,000,000 each.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I used a $2,000 per person number in my earlier post.

I don't think the (now) $810 billion bailout is the end of the story, but I also don't think the final number is going to go as high as $300 trillion. Unless we have hyperinflation, of course.