What is $700 billion worth?

One page 13 of the Australian Financial Review today, there was a comparison on the cost of the US$700 billion emergency rescue package Bush is about to put forth to the US Congress.

$700 billion works out at:

* US$2,000 for every person in the US
* More than the GDPs of Argentina and Chile combined
* 70 percent of Canada's GDP
* The annual Pentagon budget, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
* 20 percent of what the US spent in WWII
* Twice what the US spent in WWI
* More than twice what the US spent on the Korean WAr
* 100 times what the US spent in the Spanish-American War of 1898
* 100 times the annual cost of the US Heat Start program, which helps 900,000 children from poor families
* 40 times the NASA budget

Here are some of my analysis:

- To put it into Australia's context - the US$700 billion is 77% of Australia's GDP!
- The amount is also akin to a mini- US budget, roughly about 1/4 of the expenditure of a usual US budget today.

$700 Billion in context of existing US Government Debts

- In 2008, the US Government spent $431 billion in interest repayments on the existing debt, which currently totals over US$9.7 trillion. Obviously current debt is already unstainable and past the point of no return. The US Government collects about $2.66 trillion in taxes (2008), so interest on debt is one of the largest expenditures on its books, representing about 16% of total revenues!


ASX opens at 11am?

On a somewhat different note, the ASX didn't open until 11am today. I thought Comsec had spat the dummy again. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) decided at the last minute to ban all types of short-selling in Australia (naked and covered), in response to moves by the US and UK last week. Freezing short selling always tends to happens in times of economic uncertainty. I believe there are pros and cons for short selling (naked shorts are the dangerous ones). ASIC really should have got things sorted before today. The confusion in the market was just not needed, especially with whats been happening in recent weeks. When the market did open, most stocks has huge gaps, such as MQG (up 17% on open) and FMG (up 31% on open!). Most then drifted lower during the day. Nothing like seeing short sellers buy up (to close positions) in a market frenzy...

Cheers,
Scott