Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
Page Tutor ^

Posted on 05/07/2011 5:01:57 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

Notice those pallets are double stacked. ...and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Reference
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last
A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you're NOT talking real money.
1 posted on 05/07/2011 5:01:57 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

bump


2 posted on 05/07/2011 5:05:58 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

At One million dollars a DAY and counting backwards, you would be at $770 Billion around the Birth of Christ.

You don’t hit $1 Trillion until you get to the Battle of Thermopylae.


3 posted on 05/07/2011 5:06:28 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats. /P. J. O'Rourke, 1991)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

What does 14 trillion look like?

“looks like we are screwed”


4 posted on 05/07/2011 5:08:26 PM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin
...soon you're NOT talking real money.

In more ways than one.

When we Zimbabwe ourselves to the point that a candy bar costs 1 trillion.

5 posted on 05/07/2011 5:08:59 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

6 posted on 05/07/2011 5:10:12 PM PDT by Baynative (Truth is treason in an empire of lies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin
... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

I'll hold you to that!

7 posted on 05/07/2011 5:11:04 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

The Republican GOP controls the House and the pursestrings. For them to complain about Obama and Reid is disgusting and telling. All spending is their responsibility now. Do not give them a break.


8 posted on 05/07/2011 5:11:21 PM PDT by screaminsunshine (Shut up and eat your Beans!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin

$$$$$$ Bump.


9 posted on 05/07/2011 5:16:29 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (My greatest fear is that when I'm gone my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EGPWS

I swear to God I saw a $15 dollar chicken in the market yesterday.


10 posted on 05/07/2011 5:17:59 PM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin
How about something a little larger.

Photobucket

11 posted on 05/07/2011 5:19:06 PM PDT by Professional Engineer (Conservative States of America has a nice ring to it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Inyo-Mono
If you start spending a million dollars a SECOND, it would take 32,000 YEARS to spend a trillion dollars.

We are so screwed.

12 posted on 05/07/2011 5:20:28 PM PDT by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: DeaconBenjamin
It isn't rel money, it's fiat money.

Someone once said that all paper money returns to it's intrinsic value, zero.

14 posted on 05/07/2011 5:28:30 PM PDT by stockpirate (If they vote for socialism, support socialists, they're socialists duh....Ich bin ein Paliner)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: USS Alaska

I actually found a 1964 silver dime last monday.

WooHoo!

I immediately went to coinflation.com to see what I had.

$3.20
Had I found it the previous friday it would have been $3.50

Today its $2.57

I cant eat the durn thing. We are so screwed.


15 posted on 05/07/2011 5:28:37 PM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: DeaconBenjamin
It's not real, because:

1. For the average person, the concept of having $1 trillion is so unfathomable, they cannot relate and the numbers are irrelevant.

For the average politician, it's someone else's money, so the numbers are irrelevant for them as well.

16 posted on 05/07/2011 5:29:31 PM PDT by Quiller (When you're fighting to survive, there is no "try" -- there is only do, or do not.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stockpirate

What happens when they stop pumping the market with fiat money?

I know a lot of folks that are feeling pretty secure with their market returns as of late


17 posted on 05/07/2011 5:32:46 PM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: stockpirate

Buy wheat


18 posted on 05/07/2011 5:34:58 PM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: USS Alaska

One dollar per second = 32,000 years.


19 posted on 05/07/2011 5:37:30 PM PDT by hal ogen (1st amendment or reeducation camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: USS Alaska

Um ...

If you were spending $1 million per second, that converts to $60M per minute, $3.6B per hour, or $86.4B per day. At that rate you’d hit the $1T mark during the eleventh day of your spending spree.

The federal government doesn’t spend quite that fast (yet) so it takes a year to spend ~$4T.


20 posted on 05/07/2011 5:39:08 PM PDT by eclecticEel (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 7/4/1776 - 3/21/2010)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson