2/21/2009

How Much Did We Just Spend?

I found this over at my friend Chuck's blog and thought I would help get the word out as well. Thanks Chuck!!!

2009 YEARS X 365 DAYS X $1,000,000 = $733,285,000,000
$54,000,000,000 less than what congress just wasted.

Just in case you're wondering what your share of the tax cut will be the answer is $7.69 a week. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
$400 a year tax break divided by 52 weeks of work = $7.69. Don't spend it all in one place.

46 comments:

The Merry Widow said...

Not even 2 cups of Starbucks in a week...hmph...

tmw

Z said...

Great, Pops. I saw those 0's at Chuck's and about flipped, too.

Well, well...$7.69. But, don't forget...nobody in their right mind'll be spending that huge amount that should boost our economy(!) because CATASTROPHE is AHEAD, according to THE ONE.

I call any help we get MATTRESS MONEY...who'd SPEND IT?

Yehudi said...

This is disgusting. Keep it up, Jason. The word definately needs to get out there, though I'm not sure there's anything we can do at this point. The bill has already been passed.

~Leslie said...

WooHoo! $7.69! I'm rich! What can I do with $7.69:

1) Buy myself lunch at a really cheap place one day a week.

2) Um...get a cup of coffee every day each week.

3) I could buy a...um...hmm...by a hostess cupcake...

4) Buy myself an apple at the grocery store.

5) Buy three cans of tuna.

6) Um...I could rent a movie

7) I could buy a chapstick

8) Or I can save it every week and in about 100 years make a payment on my student loan...

Boy, am I ever going to stimulate the economy with my whole $7.69 each week. Imagine how many jobs I am helping the government save and create with that kind of money.

Chuck said...

I've seen this before somewhere :)

Papa Frank said...

Chuck -- great minds (steal from other great minds)

Leslie -- if you're lucky you can get a glass of milk to go with your Hostess cupcake. ;0)

Daniel -- I'm trying. The main reason to get the word out is because the lefties aren't letting up at all. Since this bill was passed Obama laid out a plan to spend ANOTHER $175,000,000,000 on the housing market. Once again, if you were responsible and actually read the papers you signed you are completely out of luck. All that you are going to get is the fat bill at the end of watching the irresponsible or illiterate dine on your dime. I suppose next week will contain some other bill for several billions of dollars for something else. The stimulus is one thing but we need to put a cork on the additional spending as quick as we can.

Z -- catastrophe ahead BUT our greatest days are ahead of us, right??? Which side of THE ONE'S mouth should we listen to?

TMW -- good news for you. I heard that Starbucks is coming out with a $1 cup of instant coffee. You might be able to get 3 0r 4 cups a week if it doesn't cost you too much gas to get there. ;0)

Papa Frank said...

By the way -- Our new friend Leslie has just PROVEN her conservative credentials by implying that she actually INTENDS to PAY her student loan. ;0)

elmers brother said...

geesh Jason...that's all we're getting? I suggest we pool our money and have a party

Papa Frank said...

A party it is!!! I'll bring a totino's pizza and a package of ramen noodles. That and a box of little debbie cakes will probably do me in for the week.

~Leslie said...

LOL! Thanks Papa Frank! Yes I am paying it back...all by myself. And I didn't get a smidgen of government help in paying for any of my college either. (Although, if they didn't take so much tax out of my check to pay for everyone else to go to school I would actually be able to afford to finish my degree!)

I'm all for the party! But we need to hurry because I hear that the administration is already saying that we need another "stimulus" bill. Boy, they have it down now! Call it a stimulus bill and you can get all your socialist actions put into law!

The Merry Widow said...

I'll bring the chips and dip(homemade, the money will go further...)
Leslie-I paid back my student loans all by myself too...you can look yourself in the eyes in the mirror.
Something that too few people can do anymore!

tmw

Papa Frank said...

I paid mine off as well. We're still paying for Mama Frank's but as she just got her master's we'll be paying for several years longer now.

Yehudi said...

Didn't Kim go to the College of the Ozarks? They're listed as one of the few free tuition colleges in the country!

Papa Frank said...

She went to College of the Ozarks for the last year of her schooling but prior to that she attended Cornerstone college in Grand Rapids, Michigan. College of the Ozarks is a spectacular school and it really is tuition-free. She had several family members that went there including her mother and father and several aunts and uncles.

Z said...

Leslie, you're a welcome addition to our corner of the blogosphere!!

Pops..who DOES pay for the tuition? Is it faith based or state paid>>HOW?

Brooke said...

Wow, what a help those seven bucks will be.

NOT.

I can't even take the family to McD's with that.

Well, maybe if I save for a month.

Yehudi said...

I would imagine the entry requirements are pretty stiff since everyone would love to attend college for free!!

Papa Frank said...

Z -- students are required to fill out for financial aid and they take whatever aid the students are entitled to. That gets a little money for them. They have MANY wealthy donors that not only help them out but that have donated land to them. Much of the land is in or around Branson and has businesses, such as Silver Dollar City, renting the land. They also own 51% of JC Penney. You can literally get a 4 year degree with no loans and having paid for nothing but books. The students are required to work 15 hours a week on campus in trade for their tuition. Room and board was $3200 a year but if you worked 12 weeks during the summer for 40 hours a week they would pay that for you as well. Kim worked in the theater there and so it was right up her alley anyway. She made costumes and sets and the sort and loved it.

Papa Frank said...

Daniel -- they have the number one rate of turning people away in the nation. More than Harvard or Yale.

Z said...

Wow, Pops...that is SUCH a fabulous situation. Teaches the kids hard work and earning their education and doesn't impose a practically lifelong student loan debt on them. I can't believe that..how fantastic!

I saw you attended a church that's new for you today and liked it...I wanted to write there at my site how happy I was for you and that I hope that happens for us but Pastor's dear darling wife reads my blog so I couldn't! I'm so happy for your family and hope you get to like it more and more..

~Leslie said...

Thanks so much for the Welcome Z. It is nice to be among similar thinking people. And to see so much integrity and common sense...AHHHHH

I worked full time while I went to school, but it came down to the choice of living (paying bills, rent etc.) or starving and finishing the degree. Um...I chose living...but I have had to work for everything I have ever got in life and that is OK with me, because I appreciate all that I have and God has blessed me so richly.

The degree will happen some day. :D

Ducky's here said...

A film admission at the MFA every week, cool. I'm surprised I'm getting anything.

Steve Harkonnen said...

What? Only over seven bucks a week?

Why, I thought we were going to receive a $13 raise in our paychecks!

Bastards are ripping us off now!!!!

The Merry Widow said...

Steve-If you are paid every 2 weeks, that's $15.38...a "little" better, no?
Leslie-Thinking people are always welcome...
And you WILL get that degree, and you will do better than those who'se parents paid for it all.
Lots better!

tmw

Papa Frank said...

Steve -- the answer to the $13 is that YES you will be getting $13 THIS year. That's because they are taking the $400 and dividing it amongst only the weeks left in the current year. However, next year your tax break will be divided amongst all 52 weeks making it $7.69 a week.

~Leslie said...

TMW: :* Thank you so much!

PF: LOL. I have to laugh because of the insanity of it all. I hadn't heard or thought of that point of view. Makes sense...out of a senseless act.

Ducky's here said...

Typical far right wingers.

First they support the regime that gets us into this mess.

Next they suggest more of the same as a way to get out of it.

When the decision comes to seek alternatives the only thing they can do is ask "Where's mine". Typical.

Look guys, you had your day when we spent a trillion to invade a couple countries because you were so scared you were wetting yourselves. Now why not admit your failures and try to get behind a solution. You've taken a wrecking ball to the nation for too long.

~Leslie said...

Ducky I have a question:

If you are in debt up to your ears and are trying to get out of debt do you spend all the money you have AND borrow more AND take all your future income and spend it on crazy things?

And it isn't a cry of "Where's Mine?" it is a cry of "That's MINE!" especially when they take the money that WE work for with our own sweat. YEAH, that's mine. I don't make a lot in my check, but I sure do work hard for that money. So it is a little defeating when I watch a HUGE chunk of it taken out for taxes...especially when I know that CHUNK of MY MONEY is going to someone who doesn't feel like working, thinks the government OWES them, and doesn't have the motivation to go out and make something of him or herself.

It is also upsetting and defeating when the government thinks it knows how to spend MY MONEY better than I do. So, I say again, it isn't "Where's Mine" it really is MINE.

Ducky's here said...

Lesley, if you think a contemporary economy can run without government spending then I suggest you lower your dosage or move to a Libertarian paradise like Afghanistan.

Right now the economy is flat out messed up, thanks in no small part at all to the supply side crew who were advocating nothing but tax cuts long after it was clear we had a problem.

So supply side tax cuts HAVING COMPLETELY FAILED (LEARN IT !) it's time to try something else. So we are going to try a Keynesian stimulus as one measure. The idea of a Keynesian measure is to spend money such that you promote growth and get the rate of growth ABOVE the rate of your indebtedness which is tough because of the tax cutting of the last several years.

Did you know that the cost of the war in Iraq which you right wing cry babies were so desperate for because you figured the mighty US would be out in a year is not carried on the books? Just supplemental. We are seriously in debt.

Now you can whine about "people who won't work" like a good little right winger or you can be mature and get a decent overview of economics.

Taking the cheap way out and scapegoating those who have less is waste of our time and will not get us out of this mess. Some Wall Street douchebag who the right wing nuts admire because he's successful (yeah, successfully tanked the economy) steals BILLIONS and you let that go because he's working and successful. Someone loses her job and needs some help just to feed the kids and you want blood.

Tie a can on it. The day of you whining rabies radio callers is OVER. Listen to reason or we push you out of the way.

Anonymous said...

Take a while to pay that back.

Papa Frank said...

The only thing that failed is the left forcing themselves into private business and making banks accept bad loans from democrat trash. The banks had about as much chance of getting their money back as we have of the democrats currently in congress having actually paid their taxes. The democrats created and sustained the smoke and mirrors bad loans and kept them hid while receiving hush money from the banks in the form of campaign funds. Follow the money Ducky. What you'll find at the end of the trail is the rotting carcass of CHANGE and HOPE. Nobody took more money from them than the present administration. Leslie is ABSOLUTELY right. What has been robbed is MY money and the money of my children and grandchildren. We will continue to work hard and pay our own way as that is what we do.

Ducky's here said...

No Papa, you missed it again.

What would rob your children would be tax cuts that do nothing but generate a short burst of consumption leaving us further in debt.

More debt, no growth = Bad.

Got it? Bad for everyone.

Now since the financial system is teats up and insolvent and we need investment to grow, who would you suggest that investment come from? What's that? The government is the only possible source? Very good, you go to the head of the class.

Now more debt + growth = Reduced debt when your kids mature. Got it?

Let me point out that if people are in debt and can't consume then industry will not expand because it has no demand. So that puts jobs in jeopardy and risks the deflationary spiral.
Of course the last to really suffer are the hypocrites who WORK FOR GOVERNMENT, and demand that everyone else get the Full Ayn Rand, right?

Papa Frank said...

You don't get growth from ROBBING from the responsible (who are also the ones who create jobs) and give to the IRRESPONSIBLE. You don't end up better by destroying the only people who benefit others. Tax breaks have ALWAYS helped to GROW business. Taxing business has NEVER created jobs. Leave the money in the hands of the American people and the businesses who are worthy will indeed survive. This CHANGE that Obama promised smells a lot more like kim-chee.

~Leslie said...

Papa Frank I apologize now for all the space I am about to take up in your comment section…but I just had to…

~Leslie said...

First of all: The name is Leslie (just like my screen name says)
Second, I never said that there should be absolutely NO government spending at all--ever, I just don’t like nor do I agree with the abuse of the spending as well as the sneaking in of the socialist/communist agenda which vaporize our freedoms that this country was founded on.

The economy tanked due to reckless spending and the government involvement in the private sector where it does not belong. Much of this started with Roosevelt who launched us deeply into the welfare pit as well as put the government‘s nose into the economy during the depression and caused it to last over 10 years longer than it should, while other economies around the world got out of it within a few years (but I won’t do all the work for you, if you really want to know history--STUDY IT.)

Our current economic dilemma was also perpetrated by the DOT COM bubble that was brought on by greed and when it popped…the creator of it (study study) made money while the economy took its hit. Then along came the housing bubble: ah the housing bubble created by…guess who? The same Dot Com creator with help from a few other democratic “leaders” who forced banks to give out loans to people who they knew would never be able to pay them back causing all kinds of problems.

Ducky’s quote: “So supply side tax cuts HAVING COMPLETELY FAILED (LEARN IT !) it's time to try something else. So we are going to try a Keynesian stimulus as one measure. The idea of a Keynesian measure is to spend money such that you promote growth and get the rate of growth ABOVE the rate of your indebtedness which is tough because of the tax cutting of the last several years.”

This makes absolutely NO SENSE at all. (By the way, the creator of the Keynesian Economics-- John Keynes--even admitted to one of his critics that "the theory of aggregated production, which is the point of the [General Theory], nevertheless can be much easier adapted to the conditions of a totalitarian state than the theory of production and distribution of a given production put forth under conditions of free competition and a large degree of laissez-faire."

Don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a totalitarian state, nor do I want to adopt socialism and lose capitalism.

Also, you missed that he said you also have to lower inflation rates as well as Keynes’ emphasis on the INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION of the Keynesian policies (which means other nations…would all have to coordinate their economic policies and practices and there would be a need for INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC institutions…hmmmm.)

But I digress…do your own REAL study. When people are able to keep more of the money they make, the money they will spend. Lower taxes on the people; then lower the business tax (the USA has the HIGHEST tax on business--why do you think we are losing jobs? because the companies can’t afford to do business in the US because of the taxes on them!) Lower the taxes and you will have more businesses in the US which then makes more jobs, which then lowers unemployment. Then, get the unions to quit sucking the businesses dry.

Ducky’s quote: “Taking the cheap way out and scapegoating those who have less is waste of our time and will not get us out of this mess. Some Wall Street douchebag who the right wing nuts admire because he's successful (yeah, successfully tanked the economy) steals BILLIONS and you let that go because he's working and successful. Someone loses her job and needs some help just to feed the kids and you want blood.”

You have no idea what job I have and who I work with, so don’t make assumptions and don’t twist my words. You also have no idea what financial circumstance I am in. (by the way, did you notice? I’ve written a whole bunch of paragraphs and I have yet to be insulting and resort to name calling. Imagine that. I would call that mature. See, I‘m not full of anger and I can have a fact filled, intellectual debate.)

More reckless spending, making the US a socialist/communist country, and more debt all equal DEPRESSION AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE US.

Papa Frank said...

Take as much space as you wish Leslie. My humble blog is open for free discussion.

Ducky's here said...

Message to Leslie --- the banking system is insolvent. There IS NO competition. There is no available capital in the private system for growth even if people had money to spend.

We are FREAKING BROKE.

Hayek, von Mises, Friedman, Thatcher, Greenspan ... all the supply side libertarians have screwed the pooch. The U.S. went on a spree and produced NOTHING but bad PRIVATE financial paper. The Libertarian fools thought they could build an economy on just moving money around. Did not work.

Now I know that you and Frank want more because you think you deserve more. Every jackie out there who has a job thinks they deserve more. However, we are in a zero sum game. The result that allows everyone to benefit requires that we adopt a strategy of cooperation. Individuals trying to maximize their payout ensures a permanent underclass which you and Frank will promptly try to stiff.

No, I want nothing of your Libertarian nightmare that passes for "freedom". As the man once said, Every Libertarian is free - to sleep under a bridge.

Anonymous said...

Just chalk it up, this is only the beginning.

WomanHonorThyself said...

is this insane or what!!!!!!!!!

The Merry Widow said...

It's called a depression...btw, did y'all know that there was a depression in the 1890's?
World-wide, didn't last as long as the one under fdr though...and that was brought on by greed also...but robber barons have as much in common with true capitalism as muggers do with free enterprise.
Leslie-Nicely stated!

tmw

Anonymous said...

I'm with ElBro...let's have a party.
Ducky? Selma Hayek is a Libertarian? Really?

Bwahahahahahah!!!

Ducky's here said...

(the USA has the HIGHEST tax on business--

-------------------

It has the lowest EFFECTIVE tax rate in the western world on business.

All ready Leslie it's clear you are reading from a tract. Try again.

Ducky's here said...

No, that's Friedrich, Pinky. He could probably act as well as she can, however.

Ducky's here said...

Also what Leslie doesn't seem to grasp is the difference between investment and consumption.

Pure consumption doesn't do a damn to generate a long term solution.

Investment can generate growth and as a result it is better to have government invest and generating growth than risk a tax cut which will probably just generate a short consumption spike or , to Keynesians anyway, much worse ... excess savings.

~Leslie said...

Name one thing that the government runs well, without waste, without gobs of needless red tape, and with a sign of profit rather than debt and failure.

We are not just talking about consumption. Capitalism in essence is: Production of something in demand, putting personal investment and risk in business, providing a service people need and/or want, investiment from stockholders and diversifying; leading to consumption leading to profit.

The more the government puts its hands into the private market the more control over people's lives they gain. That is the bottom line.

The government couldn't even run it's own cafeteria...they had one you know, for the senators and such. No one ate there because it was government owned and it really stunk. It never made a profit and the government finally admitted that they should privatize it and they did so.

Merry Widow, there was also a depression in 1920 when Harding was president. He handled it with amazing deftness and it ended up not even being a blip on the screen of history. Here is the link to the story:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/powell-jim4.html (hope you don't mind Papa Frank :D )


And no tract reading here, just going off of facts and researching history as well as a mix of the little grey cells (and yes I spell grey with an "e" because I like to :D )

In the end, are we all in agreement that we just want to fix the economy?

Nice to be able to debate it with civility.

Anonymous said...

buy ativan ativan withdrawal effects - ativan mayo clinic