The $700B Bailout in Perspective
The proposed bailout of the financial services sector is a “loan” of $700 billion. I put quotes around “loan” because the whole point is for the government to buy bad debt, so it’s really a handout. We all will buy our little share of these bad mortgages, regardless of whether we took out some ridiculous loan to flip a condo or not. Slate puts it in perspective:
There are about 300 million men, women, and children currently living (legally) in the United States, so the bailout is equal to roughly $2,300 per person. That’s right around what we each paid, on average, for gas and oil in 2006 ($2,227) and a bit less than our average personal tax burden ($2,432).
Think the price of gas is too high? Well, you could buy gas or you could pay for the bailout. Are you someone who complains a lot about welfare recipients getting money from your taxes? Here you go – you’re providing retrospective welfare to people who got rich taking the risks that caused this crisis. That’s basically all of your tax dollars right there: no Iraq or Afghanistan, no health care or veterans’ services, no highways or education – all your tax money this year is going straight to this bailout.