# Woohoo! Nearly $10 Trillian in Handouts for Wall St.! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 25, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366 "2008-11-25T02:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/1 "2008-11-25T02:02:28Z")
Presently, the National Debt is up to [over $10.6 trillion dollars](http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/), the Fed is poised to [nearly double it with the stroke of a pen.](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aDqw8_eMzrhU) > [@](#): > > The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. The share of everyone in America with the debt at $10.6 trillion is (as I type this) is just under $35K per person. The additional $7+ trillion adds another $24K or so to the individual total. So we’re up to $59K per person in the US. Interestingly enough, the nearly $8 trillion: > [@](#): > > It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages. I can’t imagine that half the mortgages in the US are in danger of default (yet), so perhaps what we should, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but why don’t we simply pay off half the mortgages in the US with the money? If half of Americans no longer had to pay their mortgages, they could afford to buy stuff like crazy! Given that many of them have monthly payments higher than your average car payment, they could now afford to go out and buy cars built by the Big Three (Say, here’s a _really_ crazy thought: The government says, “We’ll pay off your mortgage, if you agree to buy at least one new car from the Big Three.” Its win-win for everyone! Wall Street gets their money, because people are paying off their mortgages, thanks to government money, the car makers get their money, the tax payers get a _new_ car and their mortgage paid off! What’s _not_ to love?) Is it just me, or does it seem like Bush is hellbent on running this country into the ground before he leaves office? ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/2 "2008-11-25T02:24:23Z")
What did I miss? I thought the bailout plan was supposed to be closer to 700 billion dollars? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/3 "2008-11-25T02:28:51Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Is it just me, or does it seem like Bush is hellbent on running this country into the ground before he leaves office? What, you think he has any interest in making things easy for Obama? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/4 "2008-11-25T02:34:23Z")
> [@Henrichek](#): > > What did I miss? I thought the bailout plan was supposed to be closer to 700 billion dollars? The Fed has decided to kick it up a notch, it seems. > [@Ale](#): > > What, you think he has any interest in making things easy for Obama? Given that he seems to have “senioritis,” I thought that he _might_ just, you know, do _nothing_, since that in and of itself would be pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/5 "2008-11-25T02:37:38Z")
I’m pretty sure the Trillians are going to Ford. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/6 "2008-11-25T02:44:02Z")
And **friedo** wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/7 "2008-11-25T02:44:40Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I’m pretty sure the Trillians are going to Ford. No, Zaphod. Its either that or the dole que on Monday. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/8 "2008-11-25T03:45:08Z")
> [@Henrichek](#): > > What did I miss? I thought the bailout plan was supposed to be closer to 700 billion dollars? [http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/17/bailout-tally/](http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/17/bailout-tally/) Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/9 "2008-11-25T03:55:08Z")
You know, I’m not an economist (or even very good at math) but it seems to me that if the feds were to just give every man, woman, and child in the country, say, $150,000, it would be a lot cheaper, plus almost all that money would pour right back into the economy as most people would probably pay off their mortgages, buy cars, pay off debts, and invest. Is there some glaringly obvious flaw that would make this unfeasable that I’m not seeing? (Serious question. I really know very little about how the economy works.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/10 "2008-11-25T04:04:20Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > Is there some glaringly obvious flaw that would make this unfeasable that I’m not seeing? Well, yeah. Your plan would not concentrate wealth in the top 1% of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/11 "2008-11-25T04:14:06Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > You know, I’m not an economist (or even very good at math) but it seems to me that if the feds were to just give every man, woman, and child in the country, say, $150,000, it would be a lot cheaper, plus almost all that money would pour right back into the economy as most people would probably pay off their mortgages, buy cars, pay off debts, and invest. Is there some glaringly obvious flaw that would make this unfeasable that I’m not seeing? (Serious question. I really know very little about how the economy works.) Just handing them a check would cause inflation because, if for no other reason, you’d have people who’d say, “Hey! The government’s giving away all this free money, so I’m going to raise my prices.” Then you’d have people who’d say, “I’ve got $150K in my pocket, I’m going to quit my job and just party!” which means that even the guy who _didn’t_ raise his prices just for the hell of it, would be forced to raise his, because he’d have to pay more money to get people to work for him. ---
**Author:** ![Apex\_Rogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Apex\_Rogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apex_Rogers)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/12 "2008-11-25T04:41:13Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > You know, I’m not an economist (or even very good at math) but it seems to me that if the feds were to just give every man, woman, and child in the country, say, $150,000, it would be a lot cheaper, plus almost all that money would pour right back into the economy as most people would probably pay off their mortgages, buy cars, pay off debts, and invest. Is there some glaringly obvious flaw that would make this unfeasable that I’m not seeing? (Serious question. I really know very little about how the economy works.) The current estimate for the US population is 305,000,000. [http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html](http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html) Taking 300 million as a round number, we multiply that by $150,000 we get $45,000,000,000,000, or 45 trillion dollars. So economic arguments aside (inflation, etc.) this idea wouldn’t even work. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/13 "2008-11-25T04:48:42Z")
Not to mention US GDP is currently only about $13 trillion. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/14 "2008-11-25T05:09:06Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Not to mention US GDP is currently only about $13 trillion. So the debt to GDP ratio will end up being something like 1.4. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/15 "2008-11-25T06:45:13Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > \ > Is it just me, or does it seem like Bush is hellbent on running this country into the ground before he leaves office? Once again, a very appropriate Onion headline - [Bush Begins Preparations For Nation’s Final Year.](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_begins_preparations_for) I really liked the part when the first bailout broke the internet debt clock for the US. That was a special moment. ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/16 "2008-11-25T07:21:01Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/17/bailout-tally/](http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/17/bailout-tally/) Not even close. I noticed. But I remember all the fuss when they tried to push the 700 billion deal through congress a bunch of weeks ago. How did they go up to 10 trillion without similar noise? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/17 "2008-11-25T07:24:27Z")
Shock and awe. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/18 "2008-11-25T07:50:08Z")
And Bush further solidifies himself as the worst president in American history. Can someone who understands economics explain what the national debt really means? It seems like a unicorn that’s just a figment of all of our imaginations. As I saw the 10 trillion dollar number for a split second I was enraged because I will have to pay for this being a young American. Then I thought, who is going to make me pay for it? What candidate will ever get elected promising to keep taxes the same and reduce our benefits (ie, cut various forms of welfare, defense spending, education, blah, etc) just to reduce the national debt? So basically, is this chicken ever going to come home to roost? ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/19 "2008-11-25T09:10:45Z")
Well, you’re paying something like $400b IIRC on interest at the moment, so the chickens are roosting as we speak. I’d think you’d want to pay it back sometime, since tossing away $400b a year is a bit of a waste, yes? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366/20 "2008-11-25T09:45:49Z")
The sad thing is, this sort of nonsense makes the Randians sound good by comparison. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-nearly-10-trillian-in-handouts-for-wall-st/474366.md?page=2)