How much is $2.9 trillion ?

[F.C.James]

U.S. Bailouts So Far Total $2.98 Trillion

"..WASHINGTON -- A special inspector general overseeing government efforts to bail out portions of the private sector said Tuesday the U.S. so far has committed nearly $2.98 trillion toward stabilizing financial companies and rescuing domestic auto makers....."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123851108664173877.html

How much is $2.9 trillion ?

In the year 2007, the total revenue collected by the U.S. Government was:

$2,674,007,818,000 -- or -- 2.7 trillion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_tax_revenue_by_state

If we are in so much trouble that the US Government has to commit more than a years total revenue to bail out the criminals in Corporate America, we are in trouble. What have those rascals really been up to ?

I would make one suggestion: We need to all start pulling together in hopes of pulling our country out of this crisis. I think if Middle America could convey this opinion to Talk Radio (and TV) we will have a better chance of survival. Listening to these guys -- Rush, Sean, et al -- reminds me of something I use to hear from the right wing a few years ago:

"Treason doth not prosper,
What is the reason ?
For if it prospers,
None dare call it treason".

Right now it is the radio and TV talkers who are doing the prospering while the rest of America suffers.

Just a thought.

[TheCoxwain]

1. I'll tell how much a Billion is ..

if you count it at the rate of 4 numbers a seconds ( a very high rate) ... it will take you 8 years to get through a billion

you do the math on 2.7 trillion



If you want to get real ... imagine saying Nine hundred and eighty seven million five hundred seventy six thousand and seven hundred and fifty four
Nine hundred and eighty seven million five hundred seventy six thousand and seven hundred and fifty five
Nine hundred and eighty seven million five hundred seventy six thousand and seven hundred and fifty six


I cant provide a link - but counting a billion will actually take closer to 88 years

[Eric J in MN]

2. Break up big financial firms, and never let them...

...get big enough again that some politicians will say they're too-big-to-fail.

Bernie Sanders writes, "If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/billions-for-bailouts-who_b_127882.html


Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair is saying it in different words:
=====================================================
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Before lawmakers on Capitol Hill begin contemplating the creation of a broad systemic regulator, legislators should consider limiting the size and complexity of financial institutions as a means of reducing risk, a key regulator said Thursday. "Congress should examine a more fundamental question of whether there should be limitations on the size and complexity of institutions whose failure would be systematically significant," said Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on modernizing bank supervision.

==================================

[The Leveller]

3. Geez

That's fuckin' crazy.

Is that the largest transfer of wealth ever recorded? From the poor to the rich.

Why aren't these bankers in jail?

Oh but wait they are the responsible ones while GM has to prove itself, meaning gut itself and lower wages, to get some help from the Feds. Got it.

[Oregone]

4. Its about the same amount our economy will contract over the next few years...

A pity we didn't sink that money into sustaining the GDP

[dysfunctional press]

5. $100 billion less than $3 trillion.