skyb.us

Stimulus on a Napkin for Dr. Evil

For those worried about all the debt the past stimulus and another much-needed stimulus would incur, let's do some 3rd grade math:

10% unemployment is about 4% more unemployment than is 'average.'
4% of the US population is 14 million people (of 350mil) that seemed capable of contributing to our economy a little more than a year ago.
Now from the other end, let's think in units of 100 BILLION dollars (scary!)

That means if we manage to get an average of $7142 (100bil/14mil) of tax revenue per 100bil of stimulus from these individuals over the whole course of the would-have-been-worse recession, then...it's worth it. Considering the tax rate... that looks pretty easy, and not even a very difficult loss if we're wrong.

This post is brought to you by People Against Scary Numbers In the News.

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