$700 BILLION

Let's put some of this into a perspective:

- Number of people in the world living on $2/day or less -- Approx. 2 BILLION!

Need I say more than that? Probably not, but just check out some more numbers just for the fun of it:

- The wealthiest billion of world live on $70 a day (Americans are the upper, upper, upper million of the wealthiest)
- The combined wealth of the three wealthiest people in the world (who are all American) exceeds the Gross National Product (GNP) of the least under developed countries in the world combined (roughly 600 million people)
- 12 % of the world population uses 85% of the world’s water
- 40 % of the world lacks basic water sanitation (this is a very vicious cycle)
- 1 billion people are without safe drinking water
- Every 16 seconds someone dies from hunger
- 2 of 3 Americans are overweight
- The U.S. GNP is about 22% of the world capital while the U.S. population is about 6% of the entire world’s population
- 80% of the world lives in what is considered sub-standard living conditions (for example - flood zone, disease area)
-Average home size: Japan 1,000 square feet, Ireland – 930 squad foot, U.S.- 2349 square feet
- 2 billion people world wide have no electricity
- 1 billion people on the earth can’t sign their own name
- 1 % of the world owns a computer
- 1 % of world has college education
- About 22 million died from a preventable disease. In 2001 10 million were children
- 4 out of 5 American adults graduated from high school while 1 and 4 children worldwide have to work instead of school
- 8% of the world owns a car (a third of American families own at least three cars)
- 1 in 16 moms died during the birth process in Africa while in America the number is 1 in 3700
- During “Black Friday” (the shopping day after Christmas in the U.S.), American’s spent about $9 billion in 2006. To have water sanitation in the world, it’s about $9 billion yearly.

Did American really get "saved" by this $700 billion bill sent through the U.S. government? Only time will tell. More than anything else, as Americans we need to become more appreciative of what we have and start living within our limits. There are so many stats out there about the amount of debt American incur on a daily basis. Whatever happened to living within our means?

What got America into this problem is that so many people are living way out of control. If the last few weeks have taught this country anything, please Americans start living within your means. PLEASE!! For example, if you have $100 to spend in the bank, don't spend $150 on your credit card.

The above numbers aren't meant to be a guilt trip but rather just try and better understand how fortunate we are. If we continue to live beyond our means, we are in for a huge wake-up call. Maybe that's what this country needs. Hopefully we have all learned a little something from this problem.