Here’s a cool visualization of how much 1 trillion is in $100 dollar bills:
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Can you do another sketch up that shows what that looks like with 300 million people standing next to it? Its about $3,333 per person. You can fit that in your pocket.
I’m not saying that a trillion isn’t a large number or that our government shouldn’t be spending more responsibly, but as I’ve explained to others before, speaking of it in terms of a single payer is a disengenuous representation. We could do that same thing and show a pile of aborted fetuses or a pile of people who have died of starvation and they too would look daunting. The reason why we talk about rates and averages is because its a more telling stat. 1 trillion is a lot, but so is 300 million. If we owed infinity dollars it wouldn’t be that big of a deal is we had infinity number of people to pay it.
I apologize if you just wanted to show the image because its interesting. I taught a class in high school that involved misrepresentation of information with graphs and charts, and this could be one of those.
I went to that page and my Anti-virus went berzerk. Lots of embedded viruses on that page. Specifically Bloodhoud.Exploit.213.
I hear ya.
Nothing more than a cool image I found showing what a large # like that would actually look like in scale next to a person. Reminded me of the closing scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, plus it seems like a cool Google program.
Can you do another sketch up that shows what that looks like with 300 million people standing next to it? Its about $3,333 per person. You can fit that in your pocket.
I’m not saying that a trillion isn’t a large number or that our government shouldn’t be spending more responsibly, but as I’ve explained to others before, speaking of it in terms of a single payer is a disengenuous representation. We could do that same thing and show a pile of aborted fetuses or a pile of people who have died of starvation and they too would look daunting. The reason why we talk about rates and averages is because its a more telling stat. 1 trillion is a lot, but so is 300 million. If we owed infinity dollars it wouldn’t be that big of a deal is we had infinity number of people to pay it.
I apologize if you just wanted to show the image because its interesting. I taught a class in high school that involved misrepresentation of information with graphs and charts, and this could be one of those.
The current national debt will hit 11 trillion dollars this week(and that is just what’s on the books). Based on the figure you gave, that’s about $36700 per person in the United States today - including children. So for a typical family of 4 that comes out to be $146800. That may be pocket change to you, but that is a lot of money to me. It’s also not a legacy that I’m proud to be leaving to my kids.
I know this is opening a can of worms in the lavender room, but it would also be interesting to see what the per person payment is if you only include people who actually pay taxes.
I’m not saying that a trillion isn’t a large number or that our government shouldn’t be spending more responsibly, but as I’ve explained to others before, speaking of it in terms of a single payer is a disengenuous representation. We could do that same thing and show a pile of aborted fetuses or a pile of people who have died of starvation and they too would look daunting. The reason why we talk about rates and averages is because its a more telling stat. 1 trillion is a lot, but so is 300 million. If we owed infinity dollars it wouldn’t be that big of a deal is we had infinity number of people to pay it.
I apologize if you just wanted to show the image because its interesting. I taught a class in high school that involved misrepresentation of information with graphs and charts, and this could be one of those.
I disagree. While it’s certainly true that numbers and statistics can be misrepresented, I don’t think that’s the case here.
The purpose here is simply to put the number into perspective for all of us who have no personal point of reference and consequently, no comprehension as to how large a number that really is. The only way to do that, or at least the easiest way, is by comparing it to something with which we are familiar.
Virus talk scared me off, so I not sure what is presented on the link. A reference I heard on the radio a few weeks seems truly incredible: A stack of 100 dollar bills SIXTY MILES high. Can anyone with a large stack of bills handy verify that? Better yet, send approximately one inch of 100 dollar bills to me and I’ll crunch the numbers and report back asap.
If it is true, that is an impressive comparison to an item and a distance most of us are familar with.
disagree. While it’s certainly true that numbers and statistics can be misrepresented, I don’t think that’s the case here.
The purpose here is simply to put the number into perspective for all of us who have no personal point of reference and consequently, no comprehension as to how large a number that really is. The only way to do that, or at least the easiest way, is by comparing it to something with which we are familiar.
No, David, it takes it out of perspective because it is represented in terms of a single person.
For example, what if I used a graphic to show just how small $144,000 is (which is, according to the calculations above, what the average person owes to the national debt). I can use a graphic that shows 300 million people each holding 1/20th of a penny. This would be accurate and show exactly the same kind of perspective you are talking about, but it would be just as disengenuous.
Like I said, we could owe infinity dollars and show a graphic of just how big that is, but if we had infinity # of people to pay it, it would be $1 a person…which, frankly, ain’t really that much money.
disagree. While it’s certainly true that numbers and statistics can be misrepresented, I don’t think that’s the case here.
The purpose here is simply to put the number into perspective for all of us who have no personal point of reference and consequently, no comprehension as to how large a number that really is. The only way to do that, or at least the easiest way, is by comparing it to something with which we are familiar.
No, David, it takes it out of perspective because it is represented in terms of a single person.
For example, what if I used a graphic to show just how small $144,000 is (which is, according to the calculations above, what the average person owes to the national debt). I can use a graphic that shows 300 million people each holding 1/20th of a penny. This would be accurate and show exactly the same kind of perspective you are talking about, but it would be just as disengenuous.
Like I said, we could owe infinity dollars and show a graphic of just how big that is, but if we had infinity # of people to pay it, it would be $1 a person…which, frankly, ain’t really that much money.
hope that wasn’t a math class that you were teaching…
Virus talk scared me off, so I not sure what is presented on the link. A reference I heard on the radio a few weeks seems truly incredible: A stack of 100 dollar bills SIXTY MILES high. Can anyone with a large stack of bills handy verify that? Better yet, send approximately one inch of 100 dollar bills to me and I’ll crunch the numbers and report back asap.
If it is true, that is an impressive comparison to an item and a distance most of us are familar with.
I didnt’ get any virus alerts.
It simply starts with a picture of a $100 dollar bill, then shows a bundle of 100’s as $10,000. Then it shows a few pictures:
1 million in 100’s.
1 billion in 100’s
And finally 1 trillion:
And I don’t think it’s misleading or misrepresenting at all, as Barry P states. It’s simply a link to show how many pallets (note they are double stacked) of 100’s a trillion is with a person for scale. When govt’s throw out #'s like billions and even trillions it tends to get lost just how big of a # that can be.
that’s a cool visual…but really…I rarely see a bill that is $100…so to put it into perspective for me…
Searching google is seems the US Treasury says a bill is .0043 inches thick.
So if it were $1 that is a stack a little over 71,428 MILES high (feel free to correct my math if that is wrong, but it’s what I came out with)
The rest of this post is a copy/paste…so I can’t vouch for accuracy 
The entire expenditure of NASA over the last 40 years has been approx. $ 600 billion
1 trillion exceeds the world’s total military expenditures for 2004
Assuming the United States consumes about 17 billion barrels of oil a year and assuming the cost of a barrel of oil is about $ 65, a trillion dollars will buy an entire year’s worth of oil for the USA.
Want to own a cruise ship? Using your $ 1 trillion, buy yourself that little boat to sail the seas…the Queen Mary 2 with accommodations for 2,620 passengers (enough room for the whole family!) In fact, you could buy a thousand QM2s (share them with your friends!) and there would even be a little left over to pay the wages of the 1,250 crew members for each ship.
- Feel like sharing the wealth? With a population of approximately 300 million people, you could give away your $ 1 trillion by giving every man, woman and child in the U.S. $ 3,400 each. Alternatively, you could give $ 38,500 to every Iraqi living in Iraq.
Let’s say your working life is 40 years (from age 25 to age 65) and you work 40 hours a day, 52 weeks a year (you’re a workaholic and don’t take any vacations). If you earned $ 1 trillion during your working life, then you got paid $ 200,000 per minute.
—end of list, back to my comments----
So…anyway you break it down or look at it…it’s a LOT!
hope that wasn’t a math class that you were teaching…
Yes it was. I suppose you are going to pick on the fact that infinity/infinity is undefined? Do you think that’s really germane to the discussion, or did you perhaps glean the intended information? I could have also said gazillion…but then that’s not a real number and you might pick at that.
hope that wasn’t a math class that you were teaching…
Do you think that’s really germane to the discussion,
The god damn Germans got nothin’ to do with it.
/Sheriff Buford T. Justice
***No, David, it takes it out of perspective because it is represented in terms of a single person. ***
Not at all. The person is irrelevant and is only there to provide perspective as to* size, *not of individual *spending. * If you like, put a car next to the pallets, or a horse, or stack them up and compare them to the height of Mount Everest…btw, if each pallet is 3’ tall, the stacked pallets would exceed the height of Everest by about 1,000 feet. 
Not at all. The person is irrelevant and is only there to provide perspective as to* size, *not of individual *spending. *If you like, put a car next to the pallets, or a horse, or stack them up and compare them to the height of Mount Everest…btw, if each pallet is 3’ tall, the stacked pallets would exceed the height of Everest by about 1,000 feet.
And of what relavence is it??? None…other than it makes people think “wow, that is a lot of money.” Yeah, so what? Wow…we have a lot of people. What if I used a coin to represent every insect on the planet and then stacked them up to the moon? Would that mean anything? Would you then wage a campaign to produce insecticides to rid ourselves of this ungodly abundance of pests?
You and the Hoi Paloi can continue to disagree with me…until someone shows a similar stat with piles of dead bodies related to accidental gun deaths.
Can you do another sketch up that shows what that looks like with 300 million people standing next to it? Its about $3,333 per person. You can fit that in your pocket.
Well… Except that that tax burden is not uniformly distributed among US taxpayers (which by the way are far fewer than 300 million). I guestimate that my share of that 1T is more like $x%,n@& – thank you very much President Obama. 
EDIT: Oh, and I’m not super-wealthy, either. I just fall into the demographic whose taxes are disproportionately subsidizing other people.
Can you do another sketch up that shows what that looks like with 300 million people standing next to it? Its about $3,333 per person. You can fit that in your pocket.
Well… Except that that tax burden is not uniformly distributed among US taxpayers (which by the way are far fewer than 300 million). I guestimate that my share of that 1T is more like $50,000 – thank you very much President Obama.
Gee, all I did was post a cool pic, nothing more nothing less, and it’s already turning into a discussion on Obama and gun control
And of what relavence is it??? None…other than it makes people think “wow, that is a lot of money.”
Good. Now you get it. That’s exactly the idea.
Sorry for the thread drift, dude! That was indeed a cool pic.
"Oh, and I’m not super-wealthy, either. I just fall into the demographic whose taxes are disproportionately subsidizing other people. "
If you don’t mind me asking, what percentile is your income level in? You have to make quite a bit before the burden shifts away from you toward others.
Second question is, if you are in fact subsidizing others, at what point did you cross the break even mark? For example, a surgeon who makes $400K out of school pays more than his fair share of taxes that year, but that same person pays far less than his fair share during his 10-13 years of school (while many laborers start significant amounts of taxes when they are in their late teens or early 20s). So it will be several years before said surgeon actually takes up more than his fair share of the tax burden.