How Little is a Trillion

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Obama has proposed spending a Trillion.

Many people think a Trillion is lot of money. And I guess it is if you are spending it on one person. But for the entire United States, a trillion is that much, not even peanuts.

How little is a trillion:

It is less than 12 cents a day per person in America for everyday of their life assuming there is not inflation and no change in the the population.


Do the math.

1,000,000,000,000
Divide by the number of people

300,000,000 = 3,334
Divide that by the number of years in a life span
80.

= 41.67

Divide by the number of days in a year:

365= 11.5 cents a year.

Even I can spring for 11.5 cents a day. I mean come'on.

So that number does not scare me. Now, 10 trillion might. But not one or two trillion.

A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.

idahoaspie, i was rough at you on the political debate, you got an interesting point here. i like to do a little "visual experiment" from time to time, and this seems like a good time:

Whats a THOUSAND?
This is:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

one thousand X'es.
just to have seen a thousand, now you got a point of reference.
a trillion is a billion times those above, so a trillion, in itself is still a pretty big number

a thousand on the other hand, not that much at all.

The problem isn't so much that the money isn't there, it's that we are paying for it with borrowed money. Currently the U.S. government is about 11 trillion dollars in the red and a sizable portion of our tax dollars are going to paying the interest on that debt. Should this trend continue for the next few decades, the U.S. government will be forced to default on the debt triggering a rapid collapse of our economy either through hyperinflation (because the government supports itself by printing money) or though crippling tax increases.

This isn't just Obama's fault (I voted for him), it's the fault of how Washington DC has done business for over half a century. They fail to understand that any debt incurred must to paid in full at the earliest possible moment, preferably before they are forced by a crises to deficit spend again. They need to look past the next election and decades into the future.

Or by printed money, I presume?

That reminds me of a kickass book I had as a kid called "How much is a million?"

The average lifespan is not 80 years. Last I checked it was 70-something. Then take into account the fact that most people are unproductive for large portions of their life (ie about the first 20 years and maybe the last 20), and a fair number of people are unemployed or disabled. A more accurate count would be to put it in reference to the typical worker's earnings. Of course, we are already simplifying greatly by assuming that the burden of the costs are evenly distributed.

I just don't think these kind of number games are really useful or give an accurate perspective on how much money we're pissing away.

...And for a white woman, the average lifespan is around or even over 80 I think.

10^12 $ /303,824,640 persons = 3291.37 $/person.

When is it that I'm suppose to get this free money?

I know I'm gonna mess this up, but
I think a dollar bill is about .02" thick (correct me if I'm wrong)

1,666,666,666 (and 2/3rd...repeats ad infinitum)
26,304 miles high stack o' onesies...

but I've never been good at math...