Tuesday, September 23, 2008

What $1 Trillion Is

If you're having difficulty conceptualizing what $1 Trillion is and what it means to the country, consider this post:
It's [$1 trillion] 19% more than NASA's budget for the entire half century the space agency has been in existence.
That's right, according to this post, and if it is correct (I'm not sure how to verify such a claim) the amount the administration is currently seeking for it's most recent leg of spending is more than the amount of money required to get men to the moon multiple times, build the US contribution to the ISS, send multiple robots to Mars, build and service Hubble, develop hyperjets, and do all of the other amazing (and less than amazing) things NASA has done over its entire existence.

I think that's perspective. Don't let the big numbers confuse or obfuscate what this very real money can actually do. And to think that Hank Paulson originally wanted control and discretion over 19% more money than NASA's budget for its entire existence without being "reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency?" Seriously?

We should all, most definitely have a problem with this. From the left, from the right, I don't see how anyone other than the bankers and Paulson could possibly be satisfied with such a plan.

0comments:

Post a Comment

Please post your comment(s) here. To reply to a specific comment, be sure to paste the appropriate @ displayed into the box below as the first line.