Thu, Jan 08 2009
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Published November 29, 2008 01:01 pm - The calculator on the computer calculates in exponents when the number being worked climbs above $999 million. Saying that to reporter Lisa Simpson Strange prompted, “Maybe that’s the problem,” from her. What would $700 billion buy? By JAMES BROWN Glasgow Daily Times The calculator on the computer calculates in exponents when the number being worked climbs above $999 million.
Saying that to reporter Lisa Simpson Strange prompted, “Maybe that’s the problem,” from her. The problem was exactly what this column was about, but trying to find a calculator not built for physics to deal with the exponential numbers was becoming the problem instead. Digits are not my strong suit. There are 20 on my body — shoes removed — and getting above those in count causes problems. Say $700 billion out loud. How long does it take before the physical number of zeros — 11 — behind the 7 to appear in your imagination? It doesn’t happen in mine either. The real number is 700,000,000,000. There are approximately 306,000,000 people in the U.S. (The number grows by one about every 11 seconds.) Nearly 8 million of those people are worth more than a million dollars each. (Don’t worry, this isn’t a call for socialization of our economy. This is an attempt to understand the real amount of money being tossed about as if we were only talking about words.) If $700 billion were divided between each person in the U.S., they would receive $2,287 each. That’s really not much, but would certainly make Christmas for some families. But what if the bailout money, as it’s being called, were put to a more practical use. There are nearly 128 million housing units in the U.S. Let’s say, for the sake of this exercise, each one of those units is a single-family home with a mortgage. Let’s say that each company holding a mortgage waves finance fees if the person buying the home can pay for it outright, right now. If each home is valued at a median home price of $185,000, which is close at the moment, and each person owes exactly that amount, it would take $23.68 trillion dollars to pay off all of the mortgages. Certainly there isn’t that much in outstanding mortgages in this country. According to a “Poet on Call” audio column by Andrei Codrescu, $600 million will take care of it and leave us all in our homes. Without mortgages, we would all have homes in which to live without worry and disposable income to spend on whatever we chose. Of course, we would no longer be slaves to the financial markets, which would be un-American. 
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