Becoming Virtuous

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The new stimulus package

Recently there has been much debate over the new stimulus package that just passed congress.  But, as the debate has gone back and forth, it seems that few people have actually sat down to try to comprehend just how much money this stimulus bill is talking about.  The number $787 billion has been thrown around like a nerf ball.  We have heard numbers this big for so long, I think some of us have been desensitized to the enormous amount this is.  So I set out to make a point of how much more our government is going to put us in debt.

This morning I measured a dollar bill, and it is basically 6 inches long.  This means, right off the bat, that the 787,000,000,000 dollar stimulus package, if each dollar bill was laid end to end, would be 393,500,000,000 feet long.  The earth is 24,902 miles around at the equator, which is 131,482,560 in feet.  This means then, that the stimulus package which will be signed into law this morning, if each dollar were laid end to end around the equator, it would circle the earth 2992.7924 times!  Let that sink in.  2992.7924 times.  This is not child’s play.  Our government is wanting to put us into more debt, that by itself circle’s the earth 2992.7924 times!

What about the moon?  It is roughly 239,000 miles from the earth.  This means that we could travel to the moon 311.83 times!

Next question, where is this ginormous amount coming from?  The Federal Reserve is going to print it.  It does not exist.  In other words, it is coming out of thin air.  Even before this bill, a twenty dollar bill has as much backing as a twenty from a Monopoly game.  When we were on the gold standard in the 1930s, our dollar was worth a dollar of gold.  Now, in comparison it is worth 4 cents.  After this bill is signed today, our dollars will be worth 2 cents each compared to the 1930s gold standard.  Where did the all of the gold go to?  The government sold it to the Federal Reserve (which by the way, is not a government entity.  It is privately owned and is not under government control.)  Where did the Federal Reserve get the money to pay for the gold?  They printed it.  Just like the do for Monopoly games.  They got our gold for nothing.  And now, we don’t even know what has become of it.  The government is not allowed to see it, so they don’t even know if it exists anymore.  All of this information on the Federal Reserve came from U.S. Representative Ron Paul by the way.

And yet, after all this, people look to the government to save them?

The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered. ~Thomas Jefferson

Just as a side note, nobody owns property in the U.S. anymore.  We have to pay rent to the government on stuff we’ve already paid for, otherwise they can come and take it away.  But this is a topic for another time. 🙂

~Tee-Kaye

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5 responses to “The new stimulus package”

  1. Austin

    Good thoughts, but I do have a few comments.

    With all due respect, I’m more concerned with how much that money accomplishes than I am with how many times it reaches to the moon. The “republican” bailout spent uber amounts of money, but accomplished close to nothing (other than paying for dividends, super bowl parties, and a few cruises). Let’s hope this stimulus plan can do more good for the American people and the messed up economy.

    Secondly, I’m sure I understand why you are comparing the dollar’s value today with gold value in the 30’s. If you could explain that better, I would greatly appreciate it.

    Also, I loved the Thomas Jefferson quote! I don’t know where you found it, but I think it’s awesome.

    God bless!
    ~Austin

  2. teekaye

    Yeah, I wasn’t dealing with that issue in my post, though it is an important one. It just doesn’t seem that many people realize just how much that money is. Hence my measurements. Quite honestly, I don’t think should be doing anything about this. The market will correct itself. But I guess it’s too late for that. The real question is, can you spend yourself out of debt?

    My point is that our money is not worth anything anymore. Since we are no longer on the gold standard, there is no backing to the dollar. There is a quote that says something about how when the government prints money, it’s okay. But if we do, it’s counterfeit.

    I think just about all quotes from founding fathers are pretty awesome!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  3. Austin

    Ah. But you see, it is possible to spend your way out of debt. It’s called investing. ; ) And personally, I think it’s a whole lot better than selling yourself out of debt. Could you imagine the results of that?

    Hmmm. Perhaps. However, we must take into account all of the consequences of a situation. Although it is paper, there is still value to it. Also, that value can be easily managed. Thirdly, natural resources are not consumed so readily. Now, obviously, there are pros and cons to each side. I’m just saying that I don’t think we need to go back to carrying around a pouch of gold, instead a wallet of bills.

  4. teekaye

    No, it isn’t. You can’t pay off your debt if you keep spending it on other stuff. (By the way, Abraham Lincoln agrees with me.) I don’t understand what you mean by selling yourself out of debt.

    Paper only has the supposed value as long as the amount of paper stays the same. Now, if they keep printing paper money, but the amount of gold stayed the same, each piece of paper would become less valuable. You have not shown how that value can be easily managed. Also, it is not being managed properly, because the value of our dollar is steadily decreasing. They carried around a pouch of gold for thousands of years. It worked then, why not now?

  5. Austin

    Yes it is. :p lol I think we would both agree that America cannot pay of her debt right now,(Considering that we owe trillions of dollars) unless you would rather we print more money with which to pay it off. ; )

    This leaves us with only three options to do with our money.
    #1. Invest it. Obviously this will not do us any good unless we invest wisely. If we do so, we can gain more money in order to effectively repay our debt.
    #2. Let it sit there. This would take more time as it would grow slower through interest (and taxes, since we are talking about the government).
    #3. Sell things in order to gain more money. My point with this in the previous post is as follows: What would the American government sell? It not normal stuff like you see at a garage sale or at auctions. Instead, it’s parts of America. Whether that be land, companies, investments, etc… I don’t think we want parts of America being sold into the hands of Foreign, public, or private institutions.

    What are Abraham Lincoln’s qualifications? ; )

    Correct, the paper would become less valuable. However, this is assuming that the amount of gold stays the same. This is simply not true, as the price of gold fluctuates.
    I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not so sure being able to manage the value of paper is a good thing. There are both positives and negatives to that point, so I’ll just say that I’m undecided.
    Ok, they also used leeches to suck the disease out people’s body. This was a common practice for thousands of year, and they considered it to be effective. Do you think this would be a good thing to start doing again?
    Look at the practicality of that question. “Why not now?” It is more efficient to use paper in many ways. I can name ways if you deem that necessary.

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