When we take money from one thing and use it for another. We call it “Robbing Peter to pay Paul”. That sounds a lot like US Treasury Secretary Paulson’s $700 Billion bailout plan.

I was daydreaming the other day about what I would do with $700 Billion if I could simply scare some folks out of it. We call that robbery, incidentally, in most states. If I could scare the country into giving me $700Billion dollars, what would I do with it?

Well for starters, the cost to upgrade the Gulf Coast levee system has run about $250 Billion. I would finish the job. This would ensure that lives are not lost, people have a place to live and an entire American city stays intact.

I would plan a Sudanese invasion. The Iraq war has cost $648 Billion, to date. Yet, we have accomplished very little in the way of protecting American interest. I believe that the crisis in Darfur is a travesty. $700Billion would probably fix the situation militarily and diplomatically, with change left over.

Following mortgage loans and automobile loans, student loans are the largest debts on many Americans’ balance sheets. Outstanding student loan debt is at $550 Billion. I would buy up and renegotiate the student loan debt. This would free up extra cash in people’s pockets. We would really get the economy going. Assuming you have one, imagine how life would be if you did not have a student loan payment. The other $150 Billion would go towards increasing Pell grant funding so folks do not have to borrow so much money in the first place to go to college.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been working on a network for emergency workers. It is a national 911 system so emergency personal can communicate and be dispatched anywhere in the country. Experts say building it could cost $15 Billion. With the change, I would staff, maintain and operate the network for the next 50 years.

Seven hundred billion dollars would cover one year's health care bills for more than 85 million seniors, disabled people, children and low-income Americans enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. On the other hand, I might opt to add another 10 million children to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) at $35 billion per year over five years.

According to the Wall Street Journal, half the money Roosevelt spent on his New Deal program to lift the country out of the Depression and banking crisis was for public works projects. For $250 billion, in today's dollars, we could build 8,000 parks, 40,000 public buildings and 72,000 schools.

I’ m not big on universal health care as I don’t like the government telling me I can’t drink, smoke, sky dive or whatever else I choose to do that might hurt me. Nevertheless, if I had $700Billion, I could provide universal health care for six years. That is long enough for me to convince the people that it is an overall bad idea.

Since it is burning a hole in my pocket, I could spend it on a space program. The Apollo mission to the moon cost $164 Billion. I am sure we could go much further than the moon with $700Billion.

We spend approximately $700 Billion per year on foreign oil. This money goes into the pockets of OPEC countries. $700 Billion would go a long way toward fostering alternative fuels and drilling in American territory.

$700 Billion is a lot of money. Nothing suggests, however, we simply have this kind of money just lying around. Assuming we find it, what is going to happen to President Obama’s social spending programs? There will not be any money left to lower taxes on the middle class. There will not be any money left for health care reform. There will be no means for the federal government to run many existing programs.

According to a recent CNN Money poll, 76% of respondents do not believe the bailout package will relieve this credit crisis.

With all the issues we are facing, I could find quite a few good uses for $700 Billion. Rescuing some greedy corporations that have preyed on mostly uninformed borrowers is not one of them.

Are we robbing People to pay Paulson!

That is just my 20 cents!