Where did the $700 billion bailout figure come from? I doubt Treasury Secretary Paulson, or Fed Chairman Bernanke pulled the number out of thin air, so where did it come from?

My guess is they used roughly 65% of $1.1 trillion dollars, with $1.1 trillion being the estimated value of first-lien subprime mortgages and 65% being the estimated percentage of good mortgages.

Anytime this administration has come up with a plan to "help" the economy, it has been a dismal failure, which can be readily determined by the $4 trillion dollars added to the National Debt during the Bush administration.

With that in mind, it is real doubtful this new plan will do anything except get us further in the hole. So what should we do?

Instead of bailing out the banks, why don't we bail out the residents of the country? If we take the proposed $700 billion dollars and divide it by the number of people in this country, approximately 300 million, there would be enough money available to immediately turn around all problems with the economy.

This plan might also eliminate the problem with illegal residents - if you cannot prove you are a legal resident, you don't get your check until such time as you prove legal residency.

For children under the age of 18, their checks would be put into trust until such time as they are of age.