How To Imagine $1 Trillion Dollars

[Ron61]

This from an article in the local newspaper this morning.

From John Allen Paulos, a professor of mathematics at Temple University and author of "A Mathematician Reads The Newspaper." It wasn't that long ago that people were astonished at the way politicians talked about Billions as if they were nothing and now they aren't. When President Bush asked for $85 Billion for the Gulf War, people wore T-Shirts with a blank check printed on them and $85 Billion on the back. Now they talk about Trillions.
He suggests thinking of the gobsmacking numbers in terms of time: 1 million seconds is about 11 1/2 days, 1 Billion seconds is 32 years, 1 Trillion seconds is 32,000 years. Almost long enough for your 401K to recover.

Ron

[cobra bill]

The known debt is 10 trillion, but, there's a shadow debt, the one that is never talked about, the one where we are borrowing to pays for 3 wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the secret war, the global war on terror, and its all on a credit card, and its said to be as high as 40 trillion.

[NeoConMan]

Originally Posted by cobra bill

The known debt
but, there's a shadow debt
never talked about

Ooohhh! I LOVE a conspiracy theory!

Originally Posted by cobra bill

we are borrowing to pays for 3 wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the secret war, the global war on terror

Um, that's four wars by your counting...

Would you propose we fight NO wars?

Originally Posted by cobra bill

and its all on a credit card

American Express?
Man, I gotta get one of those Corporate cards for my gun business.

Originally Posted by cobra bill

and its said to be as high as 40 trillion.

Here's my favorite part of the Left Wing...

Said to be as high as 40 trillion - by whom?

Never a source in the cloak & dagger world of Liberalism.



Okay, sorry, I'm just bustin' yer chops.
But still, you gotta admit how nutty some of that stuff is.

The biggest problem?
It's no longer fringe kooks on the internet from their Mom's basement.
No sir, all you have to do anymore is watch CNN and it's presented soberly as "fact."