Federal bailout for the average Joe

Tonight I was telling Jesse about how I read that Joe Francis (of Girls Gone Wild fame) and Larry Flynt (entrepreneur of Hustler magazine) are trying to get $5 billion of the Wall Street bailout on the basis that the porn industry has been hurt by the economic crisis. (Read an article on this subject here.) I'm sure they are seriously wanting the money, but more than anything I look at this as a fairness question. Who is to choose which corporations get how much money?

Jesse said he thought the money would have better spent given to the U.S. population. I did a little math, and with 305,579,608 people in the U.S., that $700 bailout would have given each of us $2,290. I'm not sure if the Census only counts individuals aged 18 and older, but if that number also includes minors, then our part of the bailout pie would be larger.

If they are wanting to stimulate the economy, I think instead of the government giving that money to the various corporations that severely mishandled their original finances, they should give the money to the citizens. I'm sure a large portion of the people would probably use that amount on car payments, buying a new TV, whatever. Even paying off old debts with that money would help the economy in the long run because as a nation we would be more able to save up money for larger purchases.

I very much doubt Joe Francis and Larry Flynt will see any of that bailout money, but I applaud their efforts, even if they're not very altruistic.

(As an aside, I learned that Utah is the fastest-growing state...perhaps we should have stayed there after all...Nah.)