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Showing posts from March 27, 2020

A Trillion Here, A Trillion There, Pretty Soon You're Talking Real Money!

As I am writing this Congress appears to be about to pass and send to the President to sign, a "bailout" bill to help offset the financial effects of Covid-19. (The Senate has passed their version and it is moving to the House for a vote today) The total price tag is going to be in the neighborhood of $2,000,000,000,000 (two Trillion, with a "T").  That is over $5,500 for every man, woman, and child in the US that will have to be paid back at some point. I wanted to put the amount into perspective. Did you realize that the TOTAL SPENDING of the federal government of the US did not equal or surpass $2 Trillion until 1990. That year the total expenditure was $2.08 Trillion.  Nine years later in 1999 the total expenditures of the federal government equaled or exceeded $3 Trillion for the first time with a total of $3.06 Trillion.  Only five years later in 2004 spending equaled or exceeded $4 Trillion for the first time (helped along by spending after 9-11). The ...