Try #2: I need a new frame of reference (and your opinion)

[unhappycamper]

Yesterday I posted a thread about needing a new frame of reference to discuss military $$$ --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/1118234 . THANKS FOR YOUR REPLIES!

There were many good replies in the thread, the the ones that jumped out at me were the ones suggesting I change my unit of measurement from $25,000 a year jobs to $50,000 a year jobs. I think $50,000 is a better unit of measure as it reflects a family actually being able to afford raising a family without making decisions like: Do I need food or heat?



Another idea was proposed: compare US military spending (pie chart above) to "Canada, United Kingdom, and various European and Scandinavian countries. And include China and Russia too. That would be telling about how much out of whack this county's priories are."



I will make it a point to find that information if it is online somewhere.

Back to yesterday's thread. We need some sort of an identifier that will be easy for folks to remember. Here's try #2. I propose we call it something that sez we're talking about $50,000 jobs. Here is a somewhat lame first try:

$50kJobs

For every million dollars, there are 20 $50kJobs.
For every on hundred million dollars, there are 2 000 $50kJobs.
For every billion dollars, there are 20,000 $50kJobs.

Yesterday's examples using $50kJobs:

Here's a $35 billion dollar program that should be rethought: http://www.democraticunderground.com/11783348
$35 billion / $50kJobs = 700,000 50kJobs

One more: We just floated our newest destroyer, the USS Zumwalt. The cost for this bad boy is $5.6 billion dollars.

$5.6 billion / $50kJobs = 112,000 $50kJobs

And two new ones:

St Roniie ordered our marvelous B-2 bombers. Unfortunately they are somewhat expensive $2.4 billion dollars a pop. We usta have 21 of these, but one crashed in Guam because of wet sensors. B-2 crash pics at: http://tinyurl.com/lu3dlz2

$2.4 billion / $50kJobs = 48,000 $50kJobs

We originally bought 21 of them, so: 21 x 48,000 $50kJobs = 1,008,000 $50kJobs



The F-35 (aka the Flying Pig) project is supposed to cost $382 billion dollars.

$382 billion $50kJobs = 7,640,000 $50kJobs


I'm very interested in your comments and suggestions.

unhappycamper