The last couple of months have been a time filled with huge numbers - First the $700 billion TARP of the United States, then expensive bailout plans for all the other major economies in the world.

Following the announcement of China's national-level $586-billion stimulus package, even more money has been promised by local governments in their own programs.

But so much money is going to be spent in more or less the same way - to boost government-led programs, to take over financial institutions, to bail out large industrial corporations, or to build large public projects.