Jeff J. White – 10/10/08

This page was last updated on October 12, 2008.

Boost the economy; give us the money; Jeff J. White; Beaver County Times; October 10, 2008.

This letter is similar to that entitled “Let us have some of the $700 trillion [sic].”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The federal government is going to bail out banks and U.S. auto makers. This will all come out to be about $1 trillion before it is all said and done.

“If the government would give all this money to the people of this country, every person would have about $80,000. Could you imagine the impact that it would have on our country? The economy would just boom with all that money in people’s hands.”

[RWC] This paragraph is the only reason I’m commenting on this letter. Where do some people learn math? $1 trillion divided by the U.S. population (305 million) is $3,279/person, not $80,000. $1 trillion divided by $80,000/person results in a population of 12.5 million, only 4% of our actual population.

Mr. White isn’t alone. Serial faux fact provider William G. Horter posted a comment in the “Let us have some of the $700 trillion” Times website thread claiming that $1 trillion divvied up among “each person over age 18” would result in $275,000/person. If that were true, the population over 18 would be only 3.6 million. The approximate population of persons 18 and over is greater than 209 million.

“But the government will not do that. It will only look out for big business and leave us poor, starving and in debt.”