Randolph-Macon College Physicists Put $3.107 trillion Federal Budget Into Perspective
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Bill Franz, Ph.D. |
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George Spagna, Ph.D. |
Two Randolph-Macon College physicists have released their infamous “R-MC Budget Cruncher List” – a compilation of creative ideas to help the general public put into perspective the size of the anticipated federal spending plan. George Spagna and Bill Franz, professors of physics at Randolph-Macon College annually enjoy the task of converting numbers that some folks call “astronomical” into bite-sized chunks. This is the sixth year they have compiled the list.
For fiscal year 2009, President George W. Bush’s proposed $3.107 trillion budget amounts to roughly $10,241 per person in the United States, or $467 for every man, woman and child on earth. This is $406,000 per Virginian if we were bold enough to spend everything in our home state.
Spending $3.107 trillion in a single year represents spending at an average rate of $98,635 per second, and it would take the same 98,635 years to spend this money at $1 per second. If converted into pennies, this would be a stack some 300 million miles high or more than three times the distance between the earth and the sun. The stack would weigh 854 million tons.
Don’t necessarily agree with the President’s spending plan? Consider the following alternatives:
1. New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning received a Cadillac Escalade as MVP of the Super Bowl. Cost of the base model is $59,390, so your government could buy over 52 million Escalades. This could replace about 20 percent of the some 250 million vehicles in use in the United States.
2. Prefer a different vehicle? Something more economical? Tata Motors of India recently introduced a new vehicle, the “Nano,” for an estimated cost of $2500. The federal budget could buy four for every person in the US, or on a world scale, one for every 5.35 people. Unfortunately, it only seats two, so those five would have to share.
3. Perhaps you want something more luxurious. The 2008 Lamborghini Gallarda Superleggera was recently reviewed in the NY Times. At a base cost per vehicle of $224,800, you could buy 14 million of them. That’s one for every 22 people in the US, or per every 480 in the world. Also a two-seater, this car would also require sharing.
4. Prefer the Hyundai Genesis advertised frequently on the Super Bowl? If the price is $30,000 as some analysts suggest, then the US fleet could have about 40 percent of the vehicles replaced by these 375 horsepower sedans.
5. The Toyota Prius is rated at 60 miles to the gallon. At the current average national price of gasoline, $2.99 per gallon, you could drive a Prius around the world 693,000 times. Of course, to get this trip done during FY 2009, one would need to drive about 2 million miles per hour.
6. Advertising on Sunday’s Super Bowl cost $2.7 million for a 30-second ad. What could our government have done? They could have advertised on the Super Bowl for about 35 million seconds or just more than the entire fiscal year.
Who did advertise during the Super Bowl?
7. The handy Tide to Go pen was one of the first products directly aimed at women who would be watching the Super Bowl. Since a 6-pack of these costs $20.94, the federal budget could purchase over 2900 Tide pens for every American or 8 per day for every man, woman and child in the nation.
8. Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima suggested that with the game almost over, people might turn their attention elsewhere. The federal budget could buy the $35 outfit Lima wore for every woman in America twice per day.
9. A six-pack of Bud Light can be had for about $4. So the federal government could buy 117 six-packs for every man, woman and child on earth, irrespective of their age. Having trouble picturing this? It is about half a cubic mile of beer.
Maybe reading is your thing!
10. Amazon.com has introduced a new e-book reader, the Kindle, for $399. The federal budget could buy one for every inhabitant of the planet. Or higher learning? The federal budget could pay the tuition for over 118 million people to our own Randolph-Macon College.
What could corporations do?
11. Microsoft is offering to buy Yahoo! for a mere $44.6 billion – the proposed budget could buy 70 Yahoos (enough for a veto-proof majority in the Senate!). Similarly, ExxonMobil reported record profits for last year, a mere $40.6 billion. The budget is 77 times that.
Of course, the President’s budget is just a proposal. As the Victoria’s Secret ad prominently proclaimed, “Let the Real Games Begin.” For more information, please contact Pam Harris Cox at 752-3712, pamelacox@rmc.edu or Anne Marie Lauranzon at 804-752-7317.