An Interesting Look at What $700 Billion Will Buy Instead of Mortgages

$700 billion dollars is a lot of money.  There is no getting around that fact.  But, is the bailout plan the best use of that money?  The personal finance blog, Own The Dollar, had an interesting post this afternoon about what else you could buy with $700 billion, and I wanted to share it with you.  Here are a few of the alternate ideas what the bailout money could buy us:

1. One 5+ year war in a foreign country – Total cost of war in Iraq so far
2. Over $5,000 for every American taxpayer – You thought that your $1,800 stimulus check was awesome!  How about a $5,000 check?
3. Pay off all of American’s student loan debt – Americans currently have approximately $550 billion in outstanding student loans.
4. America could rebuild over 1,700 of our ailing bridges
5. The Apollo space program in 1969 cost the government $164 billion in today’s dollar.  Can $700 billion put a man on Mars?  I bet it could.
6. In the 1930s, Roosevelt’s New Deal purchased 8,000 parks, 40,000 new public buildings, and 72,000 schools for the equivalent of $312 billion today.
7. You could buy 7 million Porsche 911 Carreras or 11.6 million brand new 2009 H2 Hummers.
8. The government could purchase 3.3 million homes outright.  The median home listing price in America is approximately $212,000.
9. Or the government could purchase each one of the approximate 2.5 million homes in America that are currently in some state of foreclosure for an average of $280,000 each.

Sources: Associated Press, Yahoo Autos, AARP, Market Watch, Mortgage Banker’s Association, and Trulia

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