What can 700 billion dollars buy?

[Crimson]

What can 700 billion dollars buy?

Here is what our local paper has done to help people understand how much 700 billion dollars is, its kind of interesting. If you haven't been following the news, this is what President Bush has been proposing to spend to bail out the financial crisis. I wonder, if our government has had this kind of money all this time, how come they have claimed in the past that they don't have money to help out with health care, upgrading our schools, and more important things. I see this bail out as a way to help the rich get even richer and push more hard working, blue collar middle class people into poverty. I'm not one for politics and probably the last person you would want to talk to to have an interesting conversation about our government, but I think this is rediculous.

[Morwen Aldarion]

Well the thing is that the government probably doesn't actually have all that money - the cost of this would, of course, be passed along to taxpayers.  Either way though, I don't know how much the government will actually spend bailing out these companies, but I'm sure it will happen sooner or later and when they do it'll be anarchy.  At least that is my opinion of what is to come.

[Mina]

    out of that 700 billion, now remembering that i is on the other side of the pond here, i dont actualy think they got that cash around to play with, i think it will be a juggle of who pays what tax and moving this from there to here kinfda thing, our government does it a lot. The end result is as mentioned in earlier post by our clever lady there. Rich are just protecting there assests by finding a way of making it payable by the not rich.
   Honestly, do you think you will ever benefit from your government spending that? will you ever really see any of it? It's like a payrise but having to pay double tax.

[Cidran Falastion]

Well, I usually try to stay out of these types of conversations over the internet but I'd like to throw in my opinion on this as well.

The US government, almost certainly, does not have the money to go forward with this bailout. The war in Iraq I believe was quoted as being around the 700 Billion dollar range, and that has put us in a deficit. Our economy is in a recession and has been for some time now and is very nearly on the verge of a depression. The companies that this money will be going to got themselves into this mess, I DO NOT want my tax dollars, and the tax dollars of every other American going toward bailing these companies out of their woes. I hate to sound harsh and mean but they got themselves into that mess, it really shouldn't fall on the American government to dig em out of their hole.

I understand that hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to be effected by these companies going bankrupt, and I realize that it's a horrible situation to be in and I'm truly sorry for how this may effect you but this bail out is a HORRIBLE idea.

What we need IS a depression, after the Great Depression our country experienced a great blessing in our economy we just chose to squander it. Maybe after the coming depression (if it happens) we'll learn from our mistakes and make better choices.

I don't mean to offend, or upset anyone with my opinion but I just want to make it known. I am in no way a financial adviser nor do I work for the US Government, just a concerned citizen voicing my opinion as is my right.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[Morwen Aldarion]

I don't mean to offend, or upset anyone with my opinion but I just want to make it known.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

*giggles* Cid I don't think anything you've said is offensive - only the truth.  It kinda reminds me of the "end of the world" video on ebaums world - where America is talking to itself and in the captions it says "We are so dum"  and responds to itself with "yep"

[Teclis]

OK, I'm gonna chime in here also. I own 3 houses and I made sure that when I took out each of my loans it was under terms that I would be able to afford by hook or crook to the end. Others it seem haven't made the same responsible choices I have and now they stand to lose their homes. To that I say I am sorry to see anyone have to be homeless, but many of them did it to themselves and need to lose their homes to learn a lesson. Others say they were swindled by the mortgage companies and now they are in serious trouble, and if that is the case, perhaps some investigating should be done and some people should go to jail and some aid should be made available to assist those. I think the real problem is one that is complex and made of many factors. I think real estate speculators overextended themselves in certain areas, buying up lots of property where they expected prices to rise only to see them fall and since they have nothing to lose other than a credit rating, they jump ship and sellshort and let the banks take a loss and it drops the neighborhood value even further. I think banks made bad lending choices seeing the chance for a quick profit instead of sticking to formulas a century old that are proven to work to figure out who can afford a house and how much. To all this I say, hold the pros accountable. Republicans scream all the time that taxation is redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Well Subsidies and bailouts are a redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich to ensure they stay rich. How many of you are aware that oil companies that made record ever profits and profit margins last year still received 3.9 billion in subsidies. Yes, that is right, money that had no need for, just handed to them for no reason. Hey, I have 4 out of 10 stocks on my IRA as oil companies, so I say thank you for the free money uncle sam. I say let the market go, let it self correct, let us struggle for a bit. The market HAS to go up and down, if it never goes down, inflation goes unchecked and believe it or not, that money doesn't just disappear. Some people are making money as the market falls just as others make it when it rises. Well, that is enough of a rant for now, I know I was kinda all over the place but it isn't possible for me to go indepth here with all my theories of economics and politics. Two more quick things to think about before I go. #1 700 billion is about 150 billion more than the war on terror not just in Iraq has cost since 9/11/01. And #2 If the republicans broke it so badly, why do people belive they actually have the chance to fix it.

[Cidran Falastion]

Thanks for your opinion Alan, and I completely agree with you. Thanks also for a more accurate number in regards to the war on terror.

[gyver]

Ok
You get $600,000. ( God knows where, buy follow me )
Pay off your mortgage, loans, credit cards. Don't go nuts now.
You have 1 year to go. Take $100,000 and pay these off and use your head cuz it has to last a year. Invest the other $500,000 in one of them money market, cd gov. draft things. ( something with hi yield. Like 4-5%) If you do not go nuts you could live off the interest and never touch the prince able. About $25-$30k.
Most of us are doing that now after they take out the taxes, AND we are paying the bills. Now where can I get $600,000 ? 

[Teclis]

Sorry to shed light on things Gyver but between taxes and property taxes and insurance costs of a house, even one that is totally paid of still runs between 15-20k a year for a 100k house. Then you have to add power bill $100 a month, gas bill, average of $75 a month, water bill $30 a month, all this adds up to around 25 to 30k a year, so you'd need to get at least 50k a year to really live comfortable. I once did the math and found I could make it on 2 mil, but 3 mil to have in the bank was a lot nicer....sooooo.....where can I get 3 mil? Oh wait i could be CEO of a failed bank for FOUR days, that's right, some of these guys are making 200 mil a year to screw everything up.

[Mina]

   or you could just grab an axe and go out hunting..  AHAHAHAHAAAAAA

[Stroem Safai]

Well i know if i had 700billion dollars i would deffinatly have the most high tech computer built, and have like every single game HAHA