[emersonbiggins]

The Sun-Sentinel is there.

[web]http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-700-billion,0,2436619.photogallery[/web]

[dinopello]

A 60" HDTV for everyone - what a great idea !

Actually those lists make it seem like not all that much money. Which is probably why it won't work.

[catbox]

We'll see that it can't buy very much for very long....and it certainly can't buy happiness!

cb

[DaleFromCalgary]

The sad part is that the money could have bought an expanded space programme, rebuilt crumbling bridges and sewer systems all over the USA, expanded public transit systems, or put up lots of solar panels or wind turbines. Instead it pays off the people who started the problem.

It used to be that a fiat currency had to be printed on paper or minted onto coin blanks. Now it's all just electrons in someone's computer.

[kpeavey]

What will 700 billion dollars buy?

-700 billion tacos, which works out to a taco for every man, woman and child in the US every day for 6.4 years, at current prices.

-one of my kidneys

-8 cartons of smokes from India for every human on the planet

-New England

-The freedom and prosperity of 300 million people.

[idiom]

... Hang on, it *did* buy everyone in Miami-Dade county an average priced home.

[shady28]

I keep rolling this over in my mind - there are so many things that can be done for the 'real' economy with 700 billion rather than bail out those who got us into this mess.

Here are some things from a list at the link below. As stupid as these things are, I think any of them would do more to spur the economy than balancing the books of a bunch of banks :

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/li ... otogallery

You could buy everyone in America 2200 McDonalds apple pies.

You could buy all 32 NFL teams - 27 times.

Gasoline for a year for every adult in America. (175 billion gallons of gas)

You could literally buy the world a Coke. One 2-liter bottle per week for a year.

You could buy a 60-inch HDTV for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

You could buy 7 Mac laptops for every school-age child in U.S.

You could buy every adult in Miami-Dade County an average priced house

Rolex watches – you could buy 1 for every woman in the U.S.

Disney tickets – 18 (3-day) passes to Disney for the entire U.S. population

You could buy a brand new Hummer for each of the 11 million people on the island of Cuba

You could buy 2 mountain bikes for everyone in China

You could buy 438 pounds of rice for every single person in Africa.

You could buy 200 four-packs or Play-Doh for every child under 14 on the planet

You could buy 400 trees for every one of the 7 million homes in the state of Florida

You could buy a Caribbean Island for every single person in the state of South Dakota.

[hironegro]

hookers and cocaine!?

[jbrovont]

Looks like that would buy about 4 tricks and a night of hits for everyone in America..?

Which is, humorously enough, more than we'll get out of it by giving it to these failed banks.

hookers and cocaine!?

[TheDude]

2,811,244,980 of Lehman's Best Solar Cooker.

We could revamp/electrify the US rail system about 10 times over, from the figures I've seen.

This thread is really starting to piss me off.

[Starvid]

Remember guys, if this is done well (aka the Dodd plan where banks hand over equity to the State) the bailout will not cost taxpayers anything. In 10 years time all the money will have been repayed to the taxpayers.

[Cyrus]

Many, many, tons of hyrdoponic marijuana.

[Starvid]

... Hang on, it *did* buy everyone in Miami-Dade county an average priced home.

At todays prices, it can probably buy two.

For $700 billion dollars you could buy two or three 1600 MW Areva EPR nuclear reactors; for every US state.