By the numbers

Posted at 11:58 AM on February 4, 2008 by Bob Collins

President Bush submitted a $3.1 trillion budget today. You can curl up with it here. It shows a $410 billion deficit in 2008, $407 billion deficit in 2009. In the 2007 budget, the projected deficit was $162 billion. A billion here, a billion there.

So how big is $3 trillion?

* If you counted once per second, it would take you 94, 638 years.
* You could buy 469 million FEMA trailers, give one to every person in the United States, and still have 166 million left.
* The Mets could sign 21,818 Johan Santanas.
* MnDOT could build 19 million sets of wooden stairs at the I-35W bridge site.
* Microsoft could buy 67 Yahoos.

Mr. Bush's first budget proposed spending $1.8 trillion. That's a 67 percent increase in spending.

By contrast, the budget outlay during the Clinton administration increased 21%, the same amount it increased under Mr. Bush's father.

But Bush's rate of spending isn't a record. During the Vietnam War, and the administration of Lyndon Johnson, the proposed spending rose 94 percent.

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