31 July 2009

"Cash for clunkers broke"... the math does not add up...

OK, so this Cash for clunkers program has a billion dollars in it...

That's 1,000,000,000. 1, with 9 zeros behind it.

For comparison, a million is 1,000,000. 6 zeros.

A million is a thousand thousand. At least here in the US. The Brits have a different idea, but we ain't talking about their math...

1,000 X 1,000 = 1,000,000. This is 5th grade math.

Likewise, a billion is a Thousand Million:

1,000 X 1,000 X 1,000= 1,000,000,000.

So then- I just saw where there's been 27,282 cars sold under this program.

Let's assume each car sold took the max benefit under the program (they didn't- it's a tiered approach. But let's keep the math simple, and be generous. It's only money!)

22,782 X 4,500 = 102,519,000.

Or, said in word: One hundred and two million, five hundred nineteen thousand dollars.

Which means there's roughly 898 million dollars left.

But they say the program is brooke already. WTF?

3 comments:

Crucis said...

The money issue was discussed this morning on KCMO 710 radio and they noted the math just doesn't add up. The latest info the radio host had was that the site crashed and couldn't be restored.

I deal in high activity systems and databases for a living. It's not hard to do if you plan accordingly. That said, two teen-agers working in their garage won't make a system that can take the load. And that's about par for BO and the Obamanoids.

Home on the Range said...

I'm also waiting to see how many of these "new cars sold" get repossessed because the people really couldn't afford to buy one now, but just wanted to get the money for that old piece of junk in the garage. With unemployment up at 12% in parts of my state, it's a possibility.

JAFO said...

I do believe you are right, Brigid.

More of the same stuff that got us here.