== 700 billion fluffy nothings = By Mark Morford

[madokie]

Staggering bailouts? Body counts? Global warming stats? They're just numbers, silly

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/09/24/notes092408.DTL&nl=fix

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/09/24/notes092408.DTL&type=printable

Relax, people, it's just a number.

It's just a bunch of zeroes. It's merely 700,000,000,000, and if you look closely and blur your eyes just right and then hit yourself in the face with a brick, you'll soon see that each and every one of those cute little circles is filled with goodness and candy and the sweet sighs of puppies and pie.

Really, what could such a ginormous number possibly mean to everyday hard-workin' plebes like you and me? What does all that wild speculation about imminent recessions and the total collapse of the U.S. economy and "the end of Wall Street" actually mean for us all on a day-to-day basis? In a word, nothing. In five more: happy safe terrorist-free nothing. After all, "the fundamentals of our economy are sound." And besides, we're all just "a nation of whiners." There now. Better?

Don't you already know? If eight miserable years of Bush have taught us anything, it's that numbers like these don't actually mean anything, or have any real effect or significance, be they astronomical bailouts, soldier body counts, the costs of a lost war, evidence of global warming, insane oil profits, you name it. ...

[Faux pas]

1. I wish I'd written this! Thanks for posting it.

:)