The figure in the title is tossed around as though it were just another detail.
The Republican shutdown of the government has cost the American people a serious amount of money. How serious? The cost to a family of four, on average, is about $300. Two weeks of Republican idiocy has put a $300 dent in the average family budget. Congratulations Speaker John Boehner Ted Cruz.
A United States dollar bill weighs one gram. $24 Billion would weigh 24 billion grams, or 26,400 tons. That comes out to over 100 tons for every Republican congresscritter. Every one of these economic terrorists has metaphorically lit fire to a ton of $100 bills.
A dollar bill is six inches in length. 24 billion of them would stretch around the earth about 90 times.
$24 billion is one helluva lot of money.
Why shouldn't we insist that it be paid back? Why shouldn't we insist on a surtax on the top 1% that would replace the $24 billion that the Republicans have so wantonly destroyed? It's only fair.