17 minutes of savings

Imagine if the federal government shut down for 17 minutes. Maybe the President ordered all federal employees to watch his 2004 Convention Speech or everyone on the federl payroll took personal time to try to buy tickets to see Simon and Garfunkle in New Zealand.

That would save as much money as President Obama's new effort at fiscal discipline. Thanks to Bloody Mary Breakfast for crunching the numbers:

Yesterday, President Obama challenged his cabinet to put a man on the moon this decade trim $100 million from the budget. I hope he didn't spend too much time explaining this sweeping change from George Bush's spending bonanza.

FY2009 Budget: $3.107 trillion
FY2009 Budget per minute: $5.91 million

There you have it, 16 minutes, 55 seconds of change we can believe in. Really. Change. As in the stuff you find under the couch cushions.

Of course, is the President was really looking for a fast way to cut spending, I have an idea that could save him money in just fifteen minutes.