700 billion has a lot of zeroes

Wall Street had a big sell-off yesterday amid disappointment that the U.S. government (i.e. the American tax-payer) was not going to bail them out of their current financial crisis. In their shoes, I'd be bummed, too. But as someone who's been watching the debt rise amidst consistent deficit-spending, I worry about the government's plan to "lend a hand."

Last I checked the United States is 9.8 trillion dollars in debt. I'm no economist, but I do balance my checkbook each month and 10.5 trillion (our post-bailout balance) sounds like a lot of red ink to me. All I can say is that if they end up having to auction stuff out of the Smithsonian to pay the bill, those corporate executives on Wall Street who are making $44 million a year better be at the auction buying things and donating them back.

What do you think?