Contemplating by the numbers (March 6)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Here are some numbers to ponder:
$410 billion
The amount of spending authorized in a funding bill whizzing through the U.S. Senate today like buttermilk through a pig.
1,122
The number of pages in the bill.
Zero
Probable number of senators who have read all the bill.
7,991
Number of pet projects, aka earmarks or pork, that the bill contains, if the GOP staff of the House Appropriations Committee can be believed.
21 percent
Boost being given to a program that feeds infants and poor women.
10 percent
Amount of increase for housing vouchers for the poor.
13 percent
Amount of increase being given for Agriculture Department programs.
$238,000
Amount being authorized to fund a deep-sea voyaging program for native Hawaiian youth.
This is just by way of information. It may be that in this time of economic hand-wringing, these pet projects and increases in funding for domestic programs might work like a squirt of starting fluid for a wheezing economy.
More than just a squirt —- maybe as much as a whole can -— might be this number, being launched by the Federal Reserve:
$1 trillion
Amount made available “in an effort to revive credit for everything from car loans to equipment leases,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
April 1997
The last year the Dow Jones Industrial Average was as low as it was at the close of business on Thursday.
Just about everybody
The number of people who will be kicking themselves, after the Dow Jones has bounced back up, for not buying into the market now, when prices are low.
