We all know the number: $700,000,000,000.00 Seven Hundred Billion Dollars. By my reckoning that's a stack of $1,000 bills towering about 44 miles. Another way to think about it is how much it will cost each taxpayer.
There are about 138 Million taxpayers in the US, and if this plan goes through, it's sort of like 138 Million Americans (some of whom don't even make enough to pay taxes) writing a check to Hank Paulson in the amount of $5,072. And the idea is to give this money to the very people that have gotten us into this mess. Wall Street over Main Street.
Follow my over the fold for my modest proposal.
If every American Taxpayer is going to be on the hook for $5,072.00, there'd best be some accountability for how it's spent.
We all know how the Republicans love to talk about personal responsibility and how the American Taxpayer knows how to spend their money better than the Government does.
So let's take them at their word. 138 Million taxpayers know better than Hank Paulson how to spend $5,072 each, so why not send checks for $5,072 to every taxpayer. That would mean my wife and I would have $10,144.00 in our pockets to spend as we see fit. Accountabilty? You bet! We'll have receipts showing where every dollar went.
And the Wall Street tycoons? They'll get $5,072.00, too. So don't say this proposal does nothing for Wall Street.
I'm deadly serious here. If you want me to take on $5,072.00 of debt, I'd better know EXACTLY what my debt has bought me.