700 Billion Some

We’ve heard that number a lot, lately. I heard of an astronomer complaining about figures being called astronomical, saying that the universe isn’t that big, and that henceforth we should refer to impossible numbers as being “financial.”

But the number 700,000,000,000 is coming up all over these days.

It’s the number of dollars that Boone Pickens says we put in the pocket of tyrants and dictators every year to finance our oil habit.

It’s the amount of our annual trade deficit.

Congress has appropriated $700 billion so far for the Iraq war.

And, of course, it’s the original number requested in Henry Paulson’s bailout plan. I hear that the number doesn’t add up to anything in particular, but that they chose it because it sounded impressive. For this and three pages they worked six months?