700bn USD:

• Would clear the accumulated debt of the 49 poorest countries in the world ($375bn) twice over
• Is almost 5 times the annual amount of extra aid needed to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals on poverty, health, education etc ($150bn a year)
• Is about 7 years of current global aid levels ($104bn in 2007)
• Is enough to eradicate all world poverty for over two years (UNDP  calculates it would take $300bn to get the entire world population over the $1 a day poverty line).

On the other hand it’s

• only a quarter of the cost of the Iraq war ($3 trillion on Joseph Stiglitz’ calculation )
• a half of annual global military spending ($1339 bn)

To keep calculating, don’t forget that the estimated martket value gone right after the House rejected the bail-out plan was much more thant the package itself (about $1.5 trillion).

If you want to build a more educated guess about the future consequences of the debate of whom the financial rescue would benefit, then google Fobrapoa  Mexico, 1994-2006. The difference in the Mexican case is that the bail-out package was approved and the rescue implemented. What will happen in the US? It seems like 1) bailout and controlled crisis or 2) no-bailout and the end of the world as we know it.

In the meantime this is the market’s reaction to the vote:

And (as reported by the BBC):

• Wachovia, the fourth-largest US bank, was bought by larger rival Citigroup in a rescue deal backed by US authorities
• Benelux banking giant Fortis was partially nationalised by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments to ensure its survival
• The UK government announced it was nationalising the Bradford & Bingley bank
• Global shares fell sharply – France’s key index lost 5%, Germany’s main market dropped 4% while US shares plunged after the vote result was announced.