Back in August of 2008, during the campaign, candidate Obama pushed for a $50 billion economic stimulus plan .   At the time, that seemed like a huge amount of money, and to many it looked to be an overt transfer of wealth.   Well, we now understand that $50 billion was mere pocket change.

The Senate just approved their version of the economic ‘stimulus’ bill this afternoon.   The cost of the bill is currently estimated at around $850 billion dollars, and is nearly 800 pages long. That is slightly more than one billion dollars per page.   Sounds quite harmless, doesn’t it?   We have been so conditioned over the last few months to accepting these huge numbers that the real meaning doesn’t even register.   But how many of us can even comprehend the enormity of such figures.

What does $850 billion look like? How do we understand what these numbers mean?   If we write it out, it looks like this – $850,000,000,000.   A big number, but still meaningless.    So how do we understand how much money we are talking about? Let me give you an example.

First I must remind you that these are your hard earned tax dollars that we are talking about.

I have tried many ways to demonstrate the amount of our money in this ’stimulus’ bill and have settled on one that is easily visualized and allows you to get a real grasp on what $850 billion really looks like.

The Department of the Treasury sets the thickness of all United States currency (bills) at .0043 inches .   That means that there are 232.6 bills in a one inch stack (1/.0043).

Let’s assume those are all $20 bills,
meaning the one inch stack of bills would be worth $4,660 (233 x $20)

Now it is time for us to do a little experiment.   Knowing that the one inch stack of bills is worth roughly $4,660, and without trying to calculate or think too hard, how high would the stack be to equal $850 billion dollars?   After you have made your estimate, continue reading for the answer.

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Regarding the story: Three RINOs Move Left to Support the Stimulus

I want to thank everyone that has stepped up and contacted these three RINOs, as well as their own senators.  I hope you are also relaying this message to all of your personal contacts, and telling everyone you know that they must let their voices be heard on this critical issue.  We must try to turn these three senators.  I know it appears that I have become stuck on one issue here, but how we react to this situation will greatly affect the direction of our Country going forward.

The Democrats are desperate to have this bill labeled as bipartisan because it will not work and they know it.  They realize that it is much more special interest and pork than stimulus.  They need to be able to call it bipartisan.  The Democrats realize that the bill they crafted is destined to pass, with or without Republican support.  When this bill eventually passes we will be forced to ’share the wealth,’ but we should not volunteer to ‘Share the Blame.’

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Saturday, February 7, 2009

Last night three ‘Republican’ senators broke with their colleagues to support the ’stimulus’ bill. They say they can now support the bill since it was trimmed from somewhere over $900 billion to around $800 billion.
Thanks for easing our pain!
What happened to that ban on torture?

It is very important that everyone contact these senators. This is now being touted as a ‘bipartisan’ bill, with a ‘consensus’ of the senators in support. Three ‘left of RINO’ senators does not equal bipartisan!

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The current ‘Stimulus’ Bill of $850 Billion dollars that was passed by the House and is now before the Senate will cost each taxpayer an average of $6,296 according to the most current tax statistics available.

Here is a link where you can find the full text of the ‘Stimulus’ Bill as it was sent to the Senate.
http://readthestimulus.org/
When you get to the page check out the links on the left column. The ‘Senate Version’ link will give you the full text of the current bill. Click on the Spreadsheet link to get a quick glimpse of the amount of your money we are talking about, and how much will be spent on special interest projects. This bill is not about economic stimulus.
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