help

[brionon]

750 Billion dollars divided by the population of the USA. How much would each citizen get ? Please.

[Maypole]

750,000,000,000 dollars / 305,000,000 = roughly $2460 per head assuming youre working billions in the short-scale system as the Americans do.

[brionon]

Thanks for answering.

[anotheoldgit]

Isn't it, not how much every US citizen will get, rather how much it will cost each US citizen?

That is of course if you are referring to the recent USA Bank bail- out.

[jake-the-peg]

It's certainly a lot of money.

But remembering the great depression and the run on the banks the alternative doesn't look very inviting!

[youngmafbog]

Actually I was thinking how dividing it up shows the low magnitudeof the amount.

Bear also in mind that this is not neceessarily all thrown away. It is in effect an investment as the Government do receive something back potentially if they sit on it long enough.

Anothe bonus is that as part of the deal stupid amounts paid to failed directors will be stopped.

[brionon]

But-If they had given this money as vouchers to the poor to spend-what would the outcome be ? Increased spending-leading to increased output, more jobs. Instead of paying off the greedy bankers. But,then; I'm no expert.

[R1Geezer]

It's not bein "given" anyway. It's in the form of guarenteees to make financial institutions feel safe and to reassure the public. The actual "cost" will be much less.

[LeMarchand]

Anothe bonus is that as part of the deal stupid amounts paid to failed directors will be stopped.

I'd really like to hope that was true, but can you really see it happening?

[rov1200]

Isn't it just a loan?

[Hymie]

A trifling sum � the US government debt currently stands the wrong side of $10 trillion. Every man, woman & child in the US, is in hock to the tune of around $35,000.

I dare not investigate by how much prudence Brown has got me in to debt (on top of my mortgage and other loans/debt).

[BertiWooster]

Dont worry - wizard cameron will soon get you out of debt , with change left over , to boot

[admarlow]

if you just handed this money out to the poor, inflation would go through the roof, not a good plan at all!!!!!

[brionon]

admarlow And you know this how ?

[admarlow]

I studied economics at university and its a simple supply and demand case, put more money into a system and it devalues it. Putting 2.5k expendable income into every pocket in a country would make prices rise, and thus devalue the money that was given out.

[LeMarchand]

@ adbarlow: I'm pretty sure that most people would agree that you're right, but can you explain why? The only reason I can see for it happening is that somewhere along the line people want more money (probably at the top); so it's basically down to greed. Is there another reason?

[Davethedog]

It is worth remembering, that this money is not actualy being given away, it is being used to cover bad debts and it will be expected to be repaid over a period of time.

Also it may not all be used as it is insurance to enable the banks to function in what would be considered a normal fashion.

LeMarchand our entire economy is based on supply and demand. The more you have of something the less it costs, however if you take say an X-Box at the moment it may be considered a luxury because many people will spend on either other luxuries or necessities, however if everyone can afford an X-Box supply becomes short and the price gos up, therefore the cost of living go's up and the people who make X-Boxes want a rise, therefore if you think of this lateraly, Inflation has gone up and the currency is devalued.

[LeMarchand]

@Dave: But the price of consumer electronics always goes down as more items are manufactured, presumably as it's cheaper to manufacture in bulk once the basic technology is there. As you said, the more you have of something the less it costs.

[Davethedog]

And as I said the X-Box is an example, think of say Potatoes
a limited surplus and rising demand.

[admarlow]

rice is a good case to look at, instead of demand rising though, supply fell , which causes the same thing, price rises. This happened because this rice crop this year in vietnam was really bad. On the subject of X-boxes the best way is to think of their price on ebay, when they were new and people couldn't get them they were going for 500 quid on ebay, now they are much less because supply has risen, AND demand has fallen, as now many people already have them. If you are interested in this process I really recomend you read up on "price elasticity of demand" it sounds boring but is actually very interesting. It is the way that a change in price will effect demand.
here is an over view...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_ of_demand