With the current talk about the government budget, spending and the national debt, I am taking a minute to think about the magnitude of the dollar amounts involved.
The US national debt is a little over $20 trillion dollars. In order to wipe out that debt, each and every man, woman and child in the nation would have to cough up $60,000. And if you don’t think that government spending comes out of your wallet, you were not paying attention in school.
Here is an article that talks about what the numbers relate to:
Millions
First consider a million:
- One million is a thousand thousands.
- One million is a 1 with six zeros after it, denoted by 1,000,000.
- One million seconds is about 11 and a half days.
- One million pennies stacked on top of each other would make a tower nearly a mile high.
- If you earn $45,000 a year, it would take 22 years to amass a fortune of one million dollars.
- One million ants would weigh a little over six pounds.
- One million dollars divided evenly among the U.S. population would mean everyone in the United States would receive about one third of one cent.
Billions
Next up is one billion:
- One billion is a thousand millions.
- One billion is a 1 with nine zeros after it, denoted by 1,000,000,000.
- One billion seconds is about 31 and a half years.
- One billion pennies stacked on top of each other would make a tower almost 870 miles high.
- If you earn $45,000 a year, it would take 22,000 years to amass a fortune of one billion dollars.
- One billion ants would weight over 3 tons – a little less than the weight of an elephant.
- One billion dollars divided equally among the U.S. population would mean that everyone in the United States would receive about $3.33.
Trillions
After this is a trillion:
- One trillion is a thousand billions, or equivalently a million millions.
- It is a 1 with twelve zeros after it, denoted by 1,000,000,000,000.
- One trillion seconds is over 31 thousand years.
- One trillion pennies stacked on top of each other would make a tower about 870,000 miles high – the same distance obtained by going to the moon, back to earth, then to the moon again.
- One trillion ants would weigh over 3000 tons.
- One trillion dollars divided evenly among the U.S. population would mean that everyone in the United States would receive a little over $3000.
Pirates know these things.
Thinking about Julius Caesar? Think again. This is the day the buzzards traditionally return to Hinkley, Ohio.
What do you call a snake that’s exactly 3.14 meters long?
Image credits NASA.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 