$700 billion?

Ever wonder how they came up with the $700 billion number? Forbes is reporting that there was no secret formula or mathmatical construct that helped the Treasurey Department to reach that figure.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

So basically they threw a dart at a wall to get the number. That makes me feel so much better.

Doesn’t this seem like a very strong argument for a much smaller appropriation designed to last for another couple of months? There’s nothing to stop congress from appropriating more money in mid-November if the situation seems to warrant it.