In Terms We Can Understand: $700B = 12 Bill Gateses

Or, $2,300 for each of America's 300M average Joes

By Victoria Floethe, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 24, 2008 2:22 PM CDT

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In Terms We Can Understand: $700B = 12 Bill Gateses — Stock markets the world over are anxiously awaiting a verdict on the proposed $700 billion US bailout. (AP Photo)

Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson have been urging Congress the past two days to authorize the largest bailout in US history. Slate breaks $700 billion into smaller bites:

$2,300 per person (based on the US population of 300 million)
12 Bill Gateses
381 Hollywood blockbusters (Titanic made $1.8 billion)

7 times the single-year cost of obesity in the US ($117 billion in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control)
Florida's gross domestic product
The Netherlands' gross domestic product (last year it was $768.7 billion)
Just more than the amount ($600 billion) the US has spent on the Iraq war

(More Ben Bernanke stories.)

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