September 27, 2008

...and ANOTHER thing.

That "3 million dollar" figure; doesn't it strike you as odd that McCain is fine with sending 700 billion into Iraq, with spending another 500 to 700 billion dollars to bail out multi-billion dollar corporations, but he's all up at arms over 3 million dollars to study an endangered species?

Sure, 3 million is a lot to me. And I suspect it's probably a lot of money to you. But when you look at the economy, and the budget, and the budget deficit, it's literally a drop in the bucket.

And for McCain, it's also not a huge figure: he owns two condos in Phoenix that come to 4.7 million dollars. That's just TWO of his four to ten homes, depending on whose count you believe this week.

So, save the cost of a pair of condos, or some larger homes, but spend enough to give 4.4 million Americans free college educations at private institutions or 23 million Americans free college educations at public institutions on bailing out a bunch of very rich guys who each were paid much more than $3 million a year to run banks and manage stocks & bonds.

It just doesn't add up, does it? He'd have to cut 233,333 projects of that value to cover the 700 billion he's fine with spending. OR, he could end the war in Iraq. But he's not incensed about that.

For that matter, ONE PERCENT of 700 billion dollars is still 7 billion dollars; and the three million he's incensed about STILL isn't even a full percentage point of THAT.

My point isn't that we shouldn't be looking long and hard at the budget; we should. But we need to do so with a sense of proportion; a sense of proportion that John McCain no longer demonstrates.

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