Other than the statistics were last compiled in 1990, depending on whether you pay taxes or are a recipient of tax money, the $700 billion bailout sounds bad or not too bad. The 2008 fiscal year Federal budget was $2.9 trillion dollars. So the Federal government is currently spending your tax dollars at the rate of $1 billion approximately every 3 hours as it is now, before the bailout.

So the Federal government is currently spending your tax dollars at the rate of $1 billion approximately every 3 hours as it is now

One would hope that unlike the bailout cash that the $1 billion every three hours is being spend for a GOOD reason.

I am bounded on 2 sides of my property by a Federal government installation. The fiscal year just ended, they had money left over from their budget. They spent it on projects that added nothing to the Federal property and program, other than use up the money. So, don't even think that $1 billion every three hours is being spent for a GOOD reason. Sometimes, I think this government installation might as well put my tax money on the ground and burn it, for all the good I see it doing.