Thursday, September 25, 2008

What Would You Do With $700 Billion?

President Bush and members of his administration have been negotiating with congressional leaders to gain approval of a $700 billion dollar "bailout" plan designed to rescue leading financial institutions and prevent an economic tailspin that could lead to a severe recession.
Or at least that's what the newspaper says.
I'm a fairly intelligent woman, but when it comes to the wonderful world of finance, I find stocks and bonds and hedge funds and investment strategies to be very confusing.
(It's probably a good thing that I'm poor. I don't have any extra money, so I don't have to worry about how to invest it.)
Anyway, I don't really understand the details of the bailout plan. All I keep thinking is "wow, that's a freakin' lot of money." Seven. Hundred. Billion. Dollars. I can't even visualize that much money. But I can think of a lot of things that I would rather do with it than give it to a bunch of banks.
I would pay back all my debts. I would buy a cool new house for me and my kids, with a basketball court for Flash, a dance studio for Wonderwoman, and a massive playroom for Supermangirl. I would pay off the mortgages on my family's and friends' houses, so they would have extra cash every month. And I would give boatloads of money to tzedakah.
Money like that could make wishes come true:



WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $700 BILLION???

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't have a lot of extra cash either, very little is sitting in a bank just waiting to grow.
I f I were slightly richer I guess I'd act pretty much like you. Pay back the bank loans, finish the rooms that need improving in the house, go on a trip or two, see who would need money around me (friends and family) and allow myself to be generous with tzedakah.
Dream on!

Baila said...

"And that would be the sweetest thing of all"...the sigh that Zero Mostel makes after that line, always kills me. It so captures the burdens that he carries.

"Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?"

I try to be "mesameach bechelko"--happy with what I have, I really do. That being said...

700 billion?

Just give me 1 million and watch me get to work!

And I just hope Bush is NOT including 50 million a year salaries for CEOs in that number.

Anonymous said...

well, if you care about how you give your tzedakah money away, check out: www.mitzvahheroesfund.org - maybe we can get bush, obama, and mccain to check it out too!

arnie draiman
www.draimanconsulting.com

Lion of Zion said...

"And I would give boatloads of money to tzedakah."

that's exactly what the government is doing with the 700 billion

SuperRaizy said...

arnie draiman-
Thank you for visiting.
I checked out mitzvahheroesfund.org and it is incredible! Why haven't we heard about it before now?

Ezzie said...

Any excuse to post this is awesome. :)

cruisin-mom said...

I would have flown to Israel to see Paul McCartney :)

SuperRaizy said...

LOZ-
I guess you're right.
Ezzie-
At the risk of sounding like the world's biggest geek- Fiddler on the Roof rocks!
cruisin-mom-
ah, yes. That would have been a good use of the money.

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

Well, first you have to give 10% to Maaser.

Then I'd buy Oregon. Nice place, has a decent size coast and isn't too famous so it should go reasonably.

Then I'd build a big house, with three wings: one for the kids, one for the wife and one for me.

Then I'd buy the Labour party and Kadima and officially shut them down.

And finally, I'd go to Disney!

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

it's amazing how 700 billion sounds like so much to an individual and yet with the banks it might not even solve their problem. Shows how everything makes a difference although it may seem insignificant as a whole, individually it can change so much, and help make vast improvements.

Batya said...

put it in the bank and live on the interest

and fly first class
take taxis everywhere

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