$700,000,000,000?? Really?

I preface this with a statement that I am an analytical person not a political person- I try not to form an opinion until I believe I understand the situation. With that said- I am not also not an economist, so I am pretty certain that I do NOT understand the entire situation. 

However, 700,000,000,000 . WOW. I’ve tried to comprehend the enormity of that number/decision. 
Like I said I’m not an economist…but what would happen if we let that massive chunk of tax payer money trickle UP rather than down?

According to the Census Bureau in 2004 there were 5.8 million US business with employees. Let’s just assume it is the same now.
If we were to divvy up that 700,000,000,000 to 5.8 million employers, that would net approximately $120,000 for each and every employer in the US. 
With millions of small businesses infused with 120,000 cash… well…how much more bank credit would they really need? 

Let’s say those businesses each hire 1 to 2 people or increased employee pay with that $120,000…. That would put 5 - 11 million people to work.
Maybe all those better-paid and working people could make their mortgage payments, spend and invest?

OR … What the heck, skip the employers! The population of the US is a little over 301 million, let’s just say we divvy up that 700,000,000,000 to every man, woman and child in the US. That’s a little over $2300 per person… For my family of 5, that would be over $11,000. Talk about an economic stimulus check! 
Perhaps my family could invest that $11,000 back into the economy how we see fit? If we choose to invest back into the players that evidently handled it so well to begin with …then great - so be it. 

Either way, with an extra 700,000,000,000 running around ….folks that need credit or assets purchased have plenty of places to seek investors.
Maybe I’ve missed something, but is that not the premise of free capitalism? Do we not all have the equal opportunity to both succeed and fail? I saw a quote attributed to Warren Buffet “If we don’t get this bailout, I may have to go back to delivering papers”. Great guy or not, philanthropy aside, I do not think anyone will organize a 5K for him, there are plenty of Americans making a living delivering papers now – will they see anything from this bail out? 

I do not view myself as a cynical person, but somehow I don’t think that $700,000,000,000 will trickle all the way down to the folks who truly need a bailout. Like, I don’t know… maybe Dallas Independent School District? Can we bail them out? They may have made some serious mistakes – but you know they were not in business as a financial institution and now we have 1100 people out of a job, and kids without enough teachers. 

Maybe my husband is on to something, is this the No Millionaire Left Behind program? 

I just hope this works and we didn’t just swallow a $700,000,000,000 bitter pill because we were so desperate to make something happen that no one had the courage to say “700 BILLION? Really?”

Lillian Taylor-Blackmon, Principal
Brains By The Hour