How much is $700 billion?

9/30/2008 03:36:00 PM

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08-01-17_money8 A stack of 700 billion $1 bills would stretch 44,191 miles.  That's about one-fifth of the distance from the Earth to the moon. 

If you change 700 billion into US quarters and then stack them back to back, you it would circumnavigate the earth roughly 122 times.

If you stack them on top of each other, it would reach roughly 3 million miles into space.

 

 

But here's some numbers, from our government's 2009 budget for some comparison of how much $700 billion compares.

Executive Office of the President - $0.4 billion (2009 budget requested)
United States Army of Corps of Engineers - $4.7 billion (2009 budget requested)
Legislative Branch (U.S. Congress) - $4.7 billion (2009 budget requested)
Judicial Branch (US. Federal Courts) - $6.3 billion (2009 budget requested)
National Science Foundation - $6.9 billion (2009 budget requested)
United States Environmental Protection Agency - $7.1 billion (2009 budget requested)
Social Security Administration - $8.4 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Labor - $10.5 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of the Interior - $10.6 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Transportation - $11.5 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of the Treasury - $12.5 billion (2009 budget requested)
NASA - $17.6 billion, 2009 budget requested
Department of Justice - $20.3 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Agriculture - $20.8 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Energy - $25.0 billion (2009 budget requested)
Bear Stearns - $30 billion, 2008
Department of Homeland Security - $37.6 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Housing and Urban Development - $38.5 billion (2009 budget requested)
Department of Veterans Affairs - $44.8 billion (2009 budget requested )
Department of Education - $59.2 billion (2009 budget requested )
Department of Health and Human Services - $70.4 billion (2009 budget requested)
AIG - $85 billion, 2008
Global War on Terror - $145.2 billion (2009 budget requested)

_____If you added up all the above, you would be at $678 billion______

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - $200 billion
Economy of Denmark - $312 billion, 2007
Corporate Income Tax - $339.2 billion (2009 estimates)
Unemployment/Welfare/Other Mandatory Spending - $360 billion (2009 budget requested)
U.S. Deficit - $389 billion (2008, projected)
U.S. Deficit - $407 billion (2009, projected)
Medicare - $408 billion (2009 budget requested)
Defense - $515.4 billion (2009 budget requested)
Social Security - $644 billion (2009 budget requested)
Iraq War - $648 billion, 2003 - Present (2009 budget requested)
Vietnam War - $686 billion (2008 dollars)

______ Wall Street Bailout - $700 billion  ______

Netherlands GDP - $768.7 billion, 2007
Social Security and other payroll taxes - $949.4 billion (2009 estimates)
Individual income tax receipts - $1.25 trillion (2009 estimates)
United States Governmental Debt - $9.7 trillion (total, estimates include 2009 numbers)

Other numbers to consider:

Seven hundred billion would also buy the following:

  • More than $100 for every person in the world.
  • Seven hundred billion is the combined economies of all U.S. states beginning with the letter "A": Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and Arkansas; plus Oklahoma
  • 4,586 McDonald's apple pies for every single American.
  • Seven hundred billion could pay the wages of 22 MILLION average Americans for a year. (According to the Labor Department, the average non-supervisory, non-agricultural wage was $612 a week in August.)
  • Seven hundred billion is equal to roughly $2,300 per person in the United States.
  • 12 Bill Gates
  • 70 Hubble-type space telescopes
  • Seven International Space Stations
  • 350 Space Shuttles
  • 39.1 million Ford F-150 pickups
  • U.S. National Intelligence's budget for 15 years.
  • One years health care bills for more than 85 million seniors, disabled people, children and low-income Americans.
  • Seven hundred billion dollars is five times what the federal government has devoted to Gulf Coast recovery in emergency funds and tax credits since Hurricane Katrina.
  • The entire Interstate Highway program, including construction and repairs, has only cost $500 billion over the past 51 years of it's existence.
  • About 14 Warren Buffets.
  • Approximately 70 Large Hadron Colliders (LHC)

BTW, the tally for all the various rescue measures launched by U.S. authorities this year runs about $1.8 trillion.  This is equal to:

  • About $6,000 per American
  • About $15,500 per U.S. household.

But it's just money, right?  And our economy depends upon bailing the banks out, right? 

 

SOURCES:

$700 billion, pondering the possibilities, 30SEP08, Associated Press
No, Really, How Much is $700 Billion?, 23SEP08, Slate
Just how much is $700 billion?, 26SEP08, NewsOK.com
How much is 700 billion?, 22SEP08, techPresident
How much is 700 billion?, 21SEP08, Realtor Magazine
2009 United States federal budget, Wikipedia

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