To All Economists Out There: An Open Invitation

The American people went and took a big Congressional load on the chin this week as a fattened up 840 billion dollar bailout bill passed through the House and Senate. The bill will cost the taxpayer an average of $3000 apiece and aims to bailout the richest people and corporations in the country.

However, there's no guarantee that this plan will work. In fact, most experts think two trillion dollars more will be needed to shore up Wall Street. And even then, there's no guarantee that will be it.

With all these big numbers being tossed around, I'm at a loss. Millions. Billions. Trillions. Just how much money is out there, really?

The question to any and all economists reading this rant is this: How does one figure out how much money there is in the world? And what is the monetary system based on?  Is there a finite amount? Or is it infinite?

You've got an open forum here, economists. Explain the economy to me and I'll give you a shiny silver dollar. That's all I've got left..