The "emergency" bailout vs. unemployment.

[ColbertWatcher]

Just to see what would happen, I calculated what it would cost to give every person in America considered by the GOP to be unemployed a year's salary and how that would compare to the $700 billion bailout deemed necessary by the GOP banking lobby.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people unemployed in the United States as of August, 2008 is: 9.4 million (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

If all 9.4 million of those people were given a wage equivalent to one year at the federal minimum wage of $6.55 (Rocky Mountain News) it would cost

FIRST CALCULATE ONE YEAR AT MINIMUM WAGE
$6.55 (for one hour) x 40 (hours/1 week) x 50 (weeks) = $13,100

THEN, MULTIPLY YEARLY MINIMUM WAGE BY NUMBER OF PEOPLE
$13,100 x 9,400,000 = $123,140,000,000, or $123.14 billion.

If the 9.4 million people who are considered unemployed by the GOP's count are given one year's salary at minimum wage, it would cost less than 1/5 of what it's costing to bailout the criminals in the banking industry.

(EDITED TO ADD) Which means we can do this for 5 years before we spend as much as the bailout would (END EDIT)

Also, if we were to split the $700 billion among the 9.4 million* unemployed, they could each get $74,468.09.

[ShortnFiery]

1. No, the mega-banks need the money because they finance "K Street" crooks.

Why not reward the ORIGINAL SINNERS who squandered their own money with OUR TAX DOLLARS? :crazy:

[ColbertWatcher]

2. LOL! If we really want to "get the economy going" ...

... we need the money in the system.

A couple dozen bankers can only hire so many hookers.

I think spreading it out to the 9.4 unemployed would work better.

;)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. There are far more unemployed than they will admit.

Lots of scenarios:

Their unemployment ran out, so they are not counted. They never got unemployment from their job because they were an independent contractor, are discouraged and stopped looking for work, discouraged and decided to retire instead, suffering from bad health but not qualified to be disabled, has a master's degree or a doctorate and can't find anything above taco-stuffing or burger-flipping or shit retail jobs, etc., etc........

Still, multiply the 9.4 million by 3 or 4, to cover the unemployed, early retired, and underemployed, and you could still spread the money around.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Yes, since that number ...

... for 9.4 million unemployed comes out to less than one-fifth of the $700 billion, it could easily be spread to everyone without a job.

[ContinentalOp]

5. Great post! -nt-

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Thank you.

There have been plenty of similar posts (you know the ones, that say you can buy so many hamburgers, aircraft carriers, etc with $700 billion) I just put a twist on the idea.

[BigBearJohn]

7. sign me up!

[ColbertWatcher]

8. LOL!

I don't see why this cannot be done.

Imagine what it would do to the economy to put $123 billion dollars into it!

The jobs! The shopping! I don't see why anyone would vote against it!

[OakCliffDem]

9. The bailout is a Republican guarantee of job security for rich financial professionals

[ColbertWatcher]

10. And the industry lobbyists. Yes indeed. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Post NYSE close kick! n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

12. Countdown kick. n/t

[avaistheone1]

13. Judging from Paulson's plan I doubt he has done as many calculations as you have.