The Brian Sullivan Blog
  • October 12, 2008 05:29 PM EDT by Brian Sullivan

    Another $150 Billion: We're Starting to Talk (Un)real Numbers

    According to reports, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to reconvene Congress after the election to work on drafting and passing another stimulus plan that would include an extension of unemployment benefits, tax breaks and increases in food stamps.

    The move is a sign Democrats are increasingly convinced they will not only win the White House but also perhaps a "super majority" in Congress, one we haven't seen since the late 1970s and the Carter administration.

    The package Pelosi wants could cost upwards of $150 billion dollars.  Now the numbers are starting to get scary.

    Even without this new $150 billion, it's clear we are going to top $2 TRILLION dollars in aid by the time this is all said and done.    The math is convoluted, but as best I can tell we have the $700 billion dollar rescue plan, a few hundred million each for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an $85 billion dollar "loan" for AIG, and already more than $400 billion dollars borrowed from the Fed's discount window with likely more to come (In fact, discount window borrowing is increasing week by week).  We may have already hit $2 trillion for all we know.

    Let's put that into perspective.    The total receipts to the U.S. government were just under $2.5 trillion dollars in fiscal 2007.    Total income tax collection was $1.1 trillion of that.  So what we are talking about is a total "plan" (loosely defined) that is as expensive of nearly two years of total income tax collection in the United States!

    Of course, that's two years of current income tax collection.    I think we all know that figure is likely to go up as our taxes are increased.    With federal, state, city, social security, medicare and property taxes many of us will easily be paying more than 50% of our income to that great and efficient user of capital: the U.S. government.

Richard Sherm

Brian I agree with you. Pelosi and her free spending associates need to be taken out but they won't. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when the Dems control both houses and the Messiah steps in. At what point will people realize that throwing more money at this problem is not going to solve this problem?

October 12, 2008 at 7:03 pm

Charla Edgar

I called and emailed all my Congressmen and Senator's last week. As a voter, I have never voted straight party, I will this time. Keep in mind there are those of us out here that can do math & our own research. I personally, know there are a lot more people with the correct knowledge and understanding. You know that Senator Obama's campaign see trouble when they have to bring in Senator Clinton. The "American Public" in the most part are not falling for the campaign spin, just the drama. It would be interesting to see a poll on business owners only. I do concede that the younger voter are very much with the drama. I have, like most parents, spoke to both my boys away at college. Both stated that they understood the issues, but were for a time were caught up in the moment. They stated they were trying to leave a mark for there generation, but understood now was not the time. C. Edgar

October 12, 2008 at 8:09 pm

gaypastor

We DON'T need "billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and budget relief for cash-strapped state and local governments." What we need is another tax rebate. Why should Wall Street and the government agencies get all the big hand outs? C'mon Dems....even Bush was smart enough to provide for the American people.

October 12, 2008 at 8:50 pm

6ftrabbit

So. What happens if we just say no? Can we just say no? Do you know if Pelosi and company understands sign language? I'm sure you know which arrangement of fingers I'm talking about.

October 12, 2008 at 9:28 pm

ErikKengaard

Everyone gets the government some people deserve. Congress has been dis-serving the public interest since 1960, and the public has been asleep. Neither of the major parties offers any hope. Both are beyond redemption. If your 401K has cratered, and you wonder why, ask yourself when you last called your representative and let them know you were unhappy with their performance? When was the last time you spoke with your friends and neighbors about the corruption in congress? By the way, the Democrats take more money from Wall Street than do Republicans. Look it up.

October 12, 2008 at 9:35 pm

Gary Driscoll

You have not started to see the total yet. Resolution Trust cost us 10 times what they initially told us would be the maximum. It is fairly typical of government programs. So, expect the total cost to be in the 10 trillion dollar range. In fact, there are so many agencies that seem to have unlimited discretionary spending power that I doubt we will ever be able to figure the final bill. Are you starting to get a little uncertain about your calls for large tax cuts for individuals and businesses on top of the rest of this mess? I will repeat that the base problem is that the cost of the average house has risen faster than the average income for 50 years or so. It was bound to bust. Does anyone really see any chance that average incomes are going to increase significantly above inflation? Dream on! None of this will work because it does not address the base problem. Houses have to decline at least 50% before anything will start to level off. And even that does not address the problems with worthless derivative paper.

October 12, 2008 at 10:14 pm

Julia

Why should they not do this? BECAUSE IT DEVALUES THE DOLLAR!!! They will not be happy until we crash and burn, and they sell our sovereignty to the devil.

October 12, 2008 at 11:32 pm

David

The authorities keep saying that they will “use all tools available to them”. They only have one…it’s an electronic version of the printing press. They will spin it in many different ways using jargon like “increased liquidity” and “injection of capital” and “buying equity stakes” and “buying toxic debt” but it all translates to “create more money out of thin air”.

October 13, 2008 at 12:21 am

Firebird

Yay, more bribe money! Woohooo!!! I just hope the dollar will still be worth enough to buy some beans and rice with my check by the time it gets here. Oh, and I'm still not voting for anybody who voted yes on the EESA bailout. But I'll get the stimulus check anyway, won't I?

October 13, 2008 at 12:23 am

Gene_FL

The bailout of banks and mortgage companies doesn't make any sense. Why shore up the big companies if nobody has money to spend anyways, the people need money to spend to build up the companies. If people had money they could pay their mortgages, buy cars, build houses, buy merchandise. This would build up the economy. That 700B should have been a stimulus and tax breaks for the people. If companies make bad decisions they should go belly up. When companies go under, there will always be other smaller companies that start up or move in to take their place, creating more jobs. You can't build a house from the roof down, it has to be built from the ground up!

October 13, 2008 at 9:14 am

Tom in AZ

This is what we were warning about. You know, all your readers that have been fighting this bail out tooth and nail, every day, NEVER agreeing with it? It was a bad idea then, and it's still a bad idea, and it will be a bad idea when history is done with it. It turns out- it DIDN'T have to be done, after all. There has been more money created in the last few weeks (or will be as result of legislation in the last few weeks) than was created in the previous few YEARS. The only reason the dollar hasn't flat lined is that most of the rest of the world markets are doing even worse than ours. You can't just keep creating money to bail yourself out. It's only a matter of time before the world begins to stop accepting the dollar in payment because there just isn't any real value in it anymore. When you create this much of it this quickly, what else can you expect? Expect a HUGE inflationary period to follow- a period that may last for several years.

October 13, 2008 at 9:22 am

Ken

Thank you for telling it like it is!

October 13, 2008 at 10:35 am

Deborah king

Listen folks! this is all being transferred to fund the global economy and take your freedoms away as we know it. If any of you have ever read bible prophecy we are right in the middle of it. This is not a game this is for eternity even though we see the turmoil that is going on Jesus said these things will come to past what you are seeing now in Matthew chapter 24 and book of Daniel. But we as Americans do not just laid down our freedoms and say we are finish We the People are the government and if the people show these guys whose boss then some things will change. But look for a crisis to come out to cause a riot or something to get the military in the streets call Martial Law if this happens the constitution will become void and that is the open door to form a North American Union ( South America, Canada, North America ) with a new constitution which is already been established. We have traitors in Washington rearranging funds to finance your future as One World Government this is not a game!! Wake Up! Folks! You will never see the days you have seen before all this came about. I do have a suggestion of how this happened got to your search engine type in Wantagate and read about this guy call Emil Wanta and form your opinion about how this all started with the banks and so forth could this be search it out all seems funny that now it is happening!! Somebody pass this around then maybe the light will come on.

October 13, 2008 at 10:55 am

Don Sharp

I love it when I hear people complain about the "value of the dollar". Am I the only one who understands that the dollar has no implicit value? The dollar used to be backed by gold... then politicians realized that they could do a little bit of trickery. They declared that the dollar was actually worth slightly less gold than when it was originally printed. This allowed them to print more dollars (backed by the same amount of government gold reserves) to spend on their little projects. This occurred again and again until (right before I was born) the government declared that the dollar was no longer backed by gold. Please remember people: that dollar is no longer backed by gold (or silver or copper or anything else). That dollar is only worth the government's promise that they will print more dollars in the future. Money has become an abstract thing (as opposed to a material good). That is why your retirement funds and investments have seemingly disappeared. They were never tangible to begin with. We need to bring back the gold standard. In 1971, the dollar was valued at approximately 0.810 grams of gold per dollar. In 2008, the dollar is valued at approximately 0.035 grams of gold per dollar. We hear our politicians praise our low rate of inflation... but that's based on the numbers they choose to utilize for their calculations. If you average out the devaluation of the dollar (vs gold), you see that on AVERAGE, the dollar has lost about 8% of its value PER YEAR, EVERY YEAR since Nixon demolished the gold standard. We must correct his mistake. Your life savings shouldn't be based on the current mindset and/or the urges of Wall Street. Your material savings should be material.

October 13, 2008 at 11:06 am

jeff saturday

" 2008-10-13 12:30:18 Some guest columnist in the Miami Herald recently decried the “blame the individual” thing in this financial mess. But the following from the blog post makes me think that it’s irresponsible to just blame fat cat corps seeking bigger paychecks and profits, because the little folks were busy being as greedy and stupid: “Acevedo and her husband moved from New Jersey to Brevard because they thought the schools would be better for their two children. After renting for a year, they bought a house in 2004 for $114,000. They later refinanced and now owe $160,000. Acevedo said she doubted she could get $80,000 for the house right now. “‘We are so upside down,’ said Michelle Nacua of Lehigh Acres. Nacua and her husband, Lani, bought their house in 2004 for $112,000. They refinanced twice and now owe $161,000, far more than the $114,000 the three-bedroom, two-bath house is assessed for by the county Property Appraiser’s Office. ‘It is our fault, but I hate it.’” “Maria Osorio, 62, of Sunrise, never meant to run up her credit cards the way she did. But the companies sent them so freely. And they were so easy to use. First it was gifts and big items. Then it was gasoline, and that tasty baked chicken at the Golden Corral restaurant, then even groceries.” “Suddenly the charges on her eight credit cards totaled $14,000. And she couldn’t always pay the monthly minimums. ‘The interest rates were killing me,’ she said. ‘If I sent in $100, only $20 of it was going to the principal. The pressure was building. I started getting the calls.”’ “Unfortunately, the economic crisis comes at a time when American consumers have been living beyond their means for decades. By 2007, personal consumption had reached $10 trillion a year. While housing values were booming, they financed purchases with home equity loans.” ”’From 2001 to 2006 homeowners cashed out $1.2 trillion in home equity, to cope with mounting debt and basic living expenses,’ says José Garcia, of the Demos financial consulting firm.”~~~ Here we were, saving, and we’re gonna get dinged with higher taxes cause a lot of selfish aholes decided their equity was Big Party Whoopee Time money. Gosh, I’m pissed. And I’m pissed at the builders who overbuilt in MY Florida, and messed it the hell up. Mir quote from housing bubble blog poster

October 13, 2008 at 5:22 pm

George

I'll wager Pelosi doesn't know how many zeroes there are in $150,000,000,000.

October 13, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Marion

Simply put ... all the Dems in Congress need to go home, permanently. Do they realize what they are doing to psychiatry costs? Guess that's their plan to take care of the "little people" (which a few of the Congressmen have taken to calling us recently).

October 13, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Matt Lechner

The way the politicians are talking these days, why not make it few trillion ? and, why only a few ? if they keep de-basing the currency, ....... w a t c h w h a t h a p p e n s

October 13, 2008 at 9:53 pm

about this blog

  • Brian Sullivan joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in April 2008 as an anchor. He co-anchors the 10am-12pm ET hours of the FOX Business block. Prior to joining FBN, Sullivan served as an anchor for Bloomberg Television where he hosted the programs Morning Call and In Focus.

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