The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
How Much is a Billion Dollars?
It is difficult to visualize just how many dollars there are in $1 billion. The politicians who are spending fortunes in government money make it sound as though they are dealing in smaller numbers by removing quite a few digits. For example, Bush's budget deficit, which at the time of this writing is $422,000,000,000 is more simply stated as $422 billion.
To put it in a different perspective, a billion is a thousand million.
To place it in a better perspective, a billion seconds ago, it was the year1959.
Humans first learned to write 252 billion seconds ago.
A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it.
How Much is a Trillion Dollars?
A trillion dollars is even more incomprehensible. A trillion is a thousand billion.
One trillion seconds equals 1,688 years.
The oldest known human was alive 110 trillion seconds ago.
The US National Debt at the time of this writing is $8,538,579,172,593 or more simply stated: $8.5 trillion. The number is so large that the $1.75 billion this debt is increasing per day seems miniscule by comparison.
So, the next time you hear a politician casually use the words "billion" or "trillion" think about whether you really want that politician spending your tax money.