Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Scatter 40 mattresses outside the window of each stockholding American to cushion their fall


For the price of the Iraq War, we could scatter 40 king-sized Serta mattresses outside the window of each American who owns stocks, so their fall would be cushioned if horror over huge losses caused them to jump out. 

63% of American adults own stocks, whether directly or through some investment vehicle like a mutual fund or retirement plan.  This comes to about 142 million Americans.  A king size Serta Senna mattress costs $439 at Sam's Club.  Putting 40 of these mattresses outside each stock-owning American's window would cost $2.49 trillion, which is less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the cost of the Iraq War.