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Approximate U.S. federal debt: $9,500,000,000,000 (about $31,000 per person) ¹

Approximate U.S. federal debt, including unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, etc: $59,100,000,000,000 (about $193,000 per person) ¹

Approximate yearly spending on interest on federal debt: $240,000,000,000, 9.5% of the federal budget (about $783 per person) ¹

2007 inflation rate: 3.9 ²

Average increase in teacher salaries in 2007: 2.9 ²

Percentage of Swedish gross national income given to aid developing countries: 1.03 ³

Percentage of U.S. gross national income given to aid developing countries: 0.17 ³

Amount the U.S. government just deposited in my bank account in the hopes that I will spend as recklessly as them: $600

Amount I am to donating to places the government should be funding instead of trying to get people to buy new TVs: $600

Join me.

The list so far:

The IRC

Save Darfur

Environmental Defense

Doctors Without Borders

The Polaris Project

Suggestions?

_{1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt}

_{2. http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/teacher_salaries_cut_by_inflation}

_{3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_development_assistance}

Courtesy of mapmyride.com and google, a bird’s eye view of my cycling path to work:

It looks far, but that’s only 5.4 miles, about 25% of which is on the Brooklyn Bridge bike path. Maybe 10% of it is outside marked bike lanes. NYC is a terrible place to drive and a wonderful place to bike.  Where else would you see traffic lights just for bikes?