Wow, bad math and a total lack of understanding of basic economics, in one. You're right, Tim, and I hope whoever came up with this isn't in charge of any real money. Let's ignore the math problem (as Tim said, $85,000,000,000 ÷ 200,000,000 people = $425 a head, not $425,000), and say yes, go ahead, give everybody in America half a million bucks. Then we'd all be well off and live happily ever after, right? WRONG. The next day, gas would be $100/gal. Before long, we'd be like Nazi Germany just prior to WWII, with citizens carrying wheelbarrows full of money to the store to buy a loaf of bread. It's called inflation.