Congress has passed the new, $787 billion dollar stimulus bill.
Anyone else remember how, in the ancient history of a half decade, a $250 billion dollar transportation bill was a big deal?
Then came TARP at $700 billion (essentially, a number the then-Treasury Secretary made up. Now we have $787 billion.
Thus, the new floor is set. Next time, Congress will have to pass something even bigger. Which they probably will. And anything less than $787 billion dollars will seem as though Congress isn’t trying harder.
(At least one of these links seen on The Anchoress, where she’s gloomier than I am.)
Also read this for a summary of some of the things in the bill. At 1000 pages, nobody really knows what all is in it. Some lobbyists no doubt know the parts they wrote, but no one knows what is in the whole thing.
The same Democratic leaders who castigated the war in Iraq for its cost have now committed the country to a far more expensive obligation with this bill. Irony is almost a cliche when it comes to Congress.