$1,840,000,000,000.00) this year. My first thought was this is only 1/3 of the total budget. Then I decided to do some fuzzy math. There are 525,600 seconds in a year. The deficit alone equates to the government spending $3,500,761.04 per second every day for an entire year and this does not include interest.
Just imagine if the government took this money and did something for the housing market. They could buy:
- Buy 9,200,000 houses at $200,000 each
- Pay down $36,800 on the home loans for 50,000,000 home owners
- Give a $6,133 check to 300,000,000 citizens of the United States
I would go with option 1. Rather than bailing out the banks and car companies, the US government could purchase 9 million homes in towns and cities across the country. They can then use the homes to help lower income and homeless residents with the following conditions:
- Pay the greater of $200 a month in rent or 10% of their government benefits
- Maintain the house to neighborhood standards
- Remain drug free
- Obey all local ordinances
- Find a permanent full time job in two years which would trigger a small $100 increase in rent
This would bring over to $2 billion in revenue on a yearly basis for the government. It would also give people the incentive to find a job reducing their need for government assistance and medicare.
The end result would move many of the troubled assets off the books of the banks with a fair market price. This would also free up capital for lending. Neighborhoods would become safer with a reduction in abandoned homes. The economy would return to prosperity.
Sounds good to me. Maybe 1 and 3?
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