Hey Buddy - Can You Spare Seven Hundred Trillion Dimes?

Seven hundred billion dollars.

Just numbers, right? They don’t actually mean anything, do they? Like five hundred and eighty three billion dollars so far to pay for our unjustified invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. Just numbers. They don’t reflect anything tangible…

Except…

We live in a country where the same politicians who are now deciding whether or not to spend this money are telling us that we don’t have adequate money for decent education, or health care. We’ve watched cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, offending the least capable of taking care of themselves so that we won’t have to borrow the FULL amount of the unjustified invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq from our kids and grandkids.

That’s another thing. What would your response be if someone came up to you right now and said “Oh, I need a million dollars – your grandmother borrowed it and promised that you’d pay it back”? That’s exactly what we’re doing to our kids and our grandkids with both the money that we’re pissing away in Iraq and this bank bail-out.

You know what I say? Fuck ‘em. I realize that common people will be hurt if we don’t bail the banks out, but let’s face it – this entire mess is precipitated upon the fact that they’ve been demanding that there be no oversight or regulation. Now they’re reaping the rewards of that, dubious as they may be. Fuck ‘em. And maybe they’ll learn a lesson.

I guess that the million dollar question is “what have we learned”? Have we learned enough about republican fiscal policy to kick these guys out of office until they clean up their acts? Of course not. Because Mr. Bush is on the news insisting that this has been a long time in the making. Not HIS fault, of course. Which is true – but going back over the last twenty-eight years, (and I’m including Bill Clinton in this) you see pro-business, republican fiscal policy ruling America. So what have we learned? Nothing, I fear.

So let’s put this in perspective…

Even at current health insurance costs, costs which would be greatly reduced under a national health insurance plan, seven hundred billion dollars would provide healthcare for every man, woman and child in America for six months. And yet, health care is too expensive, whereas bailing the banks out is not.

For seven hundred billion dollars, every gas station in America could be retrofitted for hydrogen as well as gas, and every household in America could be either assisted in the purchase of a hydrogen fuel-cell car, or have one purchased for them. (12 billion to retrofit the gas stations, as one estimate has it, would leave six hundred eighty two billion for the purchase of vehicles.) But we must remember when we read this that changing from our fossil-fuel based economy is too cost-intensive, whereas bailing out the banks is not.

For seven hundred billion dollars, we could pay the entire cost for seventeen million, five hundred thousand young Americans to get a bachelor’s degree. (Approx. $40,000 per degree X 17,500,000 unless my math is wrong.) But of course education to strengthen our future economy is not as important as bailing out republican’s rich buddies after they’ve gotten themselves into trouble, is it?

I guess that what this comes down to, brothers and sisters, is that these numbers MEAN something. Our slide into fiscal hell began when President Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971. Our money is now, quite frankly, valueless. The result is that the government feels like it can just print up as much money as it wants and pump it into the economy and everything’s groovy. The problem is that if there’s nothing buttressing the value of the paper, then more paper doesn’t help.

Get outraged, okay? Think of how much money you make per year, and then figure out how much their talking about. For instance, this amount of money is more than seventeen million times what I make in a year!

GET OUTRAGED! Ask your lawmakers where this money is coming from, and don’t let them bullshit you into accepting generalities. Specifically, where is this seven hundred BILLION dollars coming from?

I’m going to write a letter to my congressman right now and ask that question. Here’s where you go to do that, I encourage you to do the same - https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Dear Rep. Smith,

I have a question about the proposed bank bail-out scheme currently being considered by Congress.

Specifically, where is this money coming from? I am actually growing a little tired of our congress and Mr. Bush throwing our money around as if the figures don't actually represent anything, so i'm wondering - specifically, what do these numbers represent? Are we talking about cuts to social programs? You are, if i remember correctly, a democrat, and so should be fighting tooth and nail to prevent cuts to social programs. Are we talking about increased taxes? If so, upon whom? Are we talking about securities taken out against future taxes? If so, when will these securities come due, and what is the plan to pay for them? Are we talking about selling more of our Federal assets (IE dollars) to foreign governments, such as the Chinese? If that is the case, then i strongly discourage you from doing that.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely, Randal Schaffer

Peace.

Randal