• $4,781.42: each taxpayer’s share of the bailout
• $9,836.15: the average tax payment for an individual taxpayer, fiscal year 2007
• $386 billion: projected Medicare payouts, fiscal year 2008
• $481.4 billion: the federal Defense Department’s discretionary-spending budget, fiscal year 2008
• $448.4 billion: the discretionary-spending budget for all other federal agencies combined, fiscal year 2008
• $608 billion: projected Social-Security payouts, fiscal year 2008
• $726 billion: all approved spending for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and “the global war on terror,” 2001-09
Sources: White House Office of Management and the Budget (www.whitehouse.gov/omb)
IRS (www.irs.gov/taxstats)
Congressional Budget Office (www.cbo.gov)