There is Hope for Arizona

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Just another funny photo

Porkulus bill measured in weight of $1 bills

Every dollar bill (and every other US bill) weighs about one gram or 0.03527 of an ounce.

Porkulus has $787 billion dollar bills which weighs 27,760,608,015 ounces.

16 oz. to the pound means Porkulus weighs 1,735,083,001 lbs.

1 ton equals 2000 lbs, and Porkulus weights 867,519 tons.

The maximum take-off weight of 0bama's Air Force One is 833,000 lbs. which means Porkulus weighs 2083 times greater than fully loaded Air Force One.

The American Consumer has it right -- Savings not Spending (Video)

"The Worst is yet to come"

There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.
But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better as a result of:

An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid "exploding unemployment", leading to "exploding bankruptcies."

"The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car," Davidowitz says. "A lot of that is gone."

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy - as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.