Have you ever been to USDEBTCLOCK.ORG?

[scandal 951]

Another excellent and informative post, brother Ron.

Shall we discuss my proclivity for sheep, now that that's out of the way?

[웃 910]

We just crossed the $12 trillion dollar debt mark.

GOBAMA!!!!!!

[웃 910]

We just crossed the $12 trillion dollar debt mark.

GOBAMA!!!!!!

To put 1 trillion (just 1) into perspective:

If you made $1 a second it would take 12 days to reach $1 million, 32 years to make $1 billion, and 31,688 years to earn $1 trillion.

A trillion seconds ago, civilization didn't exist. A billion minutes ago, Trajan was emperor in Rome. A million hours ago, it was 1895, and Grover Cleveland was President of the United States.

You could spend $10 million a day and it would still take you 273 years to spend $1 trillion.

http://defeatthedebt.com/understanding-the...ions-trillions/

I calculated this via google and just subtracted the years. Not a math expert but should be about right!

1 trillion seconds = 31,688 years ago (year 29,679 BC)

1 billion minutes = 1901 years ago (year 108 AD)

1 million hours = 114 years ago (year 1895)

Edited November 21, 2009 by Confucian

[scandal 951]

I calculated this via google and just subtracted the years. Not a math expert but should be about right!

1 trillion seconds = 31,688 years ago (year 29,679 BC)

1 billion minutes = 1901 years ago (year 108 AD)

1 million hours = 114 years ago (year 1895)

1 trillion US Dollars in 2009 is a big number, but nowhere near as big as it used to be in the past due to (a) growth of our population and economy (b ) inflation.

There are far, far bigger numbers than this.

Yes, a trillion is a pretty big number. It's much smaller of course than Avogadro's Number (6X10^23).

It's also much smaller than the number of cells in your body (which is somewhere between 10 -100 trillion).

And it's much, much less than the number of bacteria in your body (did you know you have 10X more living microbes in your body than you have human cells?) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5527426.

In other words - it's all a matter of perspective.

[웃 910]

Even better way to show the difference between 1 trillion, 1 billion, and 1 million..

1 trillion seconds ago it was the year 29,679 B fvcking C!

1 billion seconds ago it was the year 1977

1 million seconds ago was 1 week 4 days 14 hours ago

Found this from 2006:

Posted on Tue 29 Aug 2006 10:08:39 AM EST by dobermangang

I got an interesting email I thought I'd share.

"What is a billion??? The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1691873/posts

[웃 910]

I calculated this via google and just subtracted the years. Not a math expert but should be about right!

1 trillion seconds = 31,688 years ago (year 29,679 BC)

1 billion minutes = 1901 years ago (year 108 AD)

1 million hours = 114 years ago (year 1895)

1 trillion US Dollars in 2009 is a big number, but nowhere near as big as it used to be in the past due to (a) growth of our population and economy (b ) inflation.

There are far, far bigger numbers than this.

Yes, a trillion is a pretty big number. It's much smaller of course than Avogadro's Number (6X10^23).

It's also much smaller than the number of cells in your body (which is somewhere between 10 -100 trillion).

And it's much, much less than the number of bacteria in your body (did you know you have 10X more living microbes in your body than you have human cells?) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5527426.

In other words - it's all a matter of perspective.

And there are about 70 sextillion stars in the universe (I've heard some say the number is much smaller, some say larger, what say you?).

And how many 0's are in a sextillion? I thought it was 26 but just googled and have got many conflicting answers (56 zeros, less than a Brazilian! ... 1 + 21 zeros) I am confused!

Edited November 21, 2009 by Confucian

[웃 910]

That clock is not even accurate. It's just a counting program.

I'm not saying it is accurate to the $1 but it is accurate, relatively speaking.

Were you watching it in 2004?

More to the point, were you watching it circa ~1999 (during the final years of Clinton's term) when it was actually running in reverse?

We were running a surplus, and the debt was shrinking, not growing.

Also - without minimizing the scary size of the debt - note the following.

The debt is about $11.2 trillion on this clock. Ok, that's about right (counting the social security"lockbox").

The annual deficit is $1.4 trillion. That is a scary number.

However, the GDP, even after several quarters of contraction in the economy, is $10.5 trillion.

That means that total outstanding debt is about 11.2/10.5 = 107% of GDP.

The TOTAL national debt of the country (operating and fixed debt) is roughly equal to the gross revenues of the country.

To put that on an individual scale, it would be like comparing your total debt- mortgage, car loan, credit cards, student loans, and comparing that to your 1-year gross salary.

If you have a $100,000 mortgage, $10,000 car loan and other miscellaneous debt, but you are middle class with a family income of, say, $80K or $90K, are you freaking out? Or do you realize that a 30 year debt amortization can be managed with such a salary? That's approximately the situation the US is in right now. Not great, but not necessarily catastrophic.

Were you reading those numbers right a month and a half ago?

GDP $10.5 trillion

Debt $11.2 trillion

Cause the clock now shows:

GDP almost $12.6 trillion

Debt just over $12 trillion

[scandal 951]

Were you reading those numbers right a month and a half ago?

GDP $10.5 trillion

Debt $11.2 trillion

Cause the clock now shows:

GDP almost $12.6 trillion

Debt just over $12 trillion

You're saying maybe I need to visit my optometrist?

Yeah, I read it right. Debt is climbing (no duh!), but so is GDP, since we're climbing out of the recession. 3rd quarter growth is likely to be in the ~3% range.

A trillion here, a trillion there, who's counting?

[SuperDuper! 230]

Another excellent and informative post, brother Ron.

Shall we discuss my proclivity for sheep, now that that's out of the way?

What exactly do you do to those poor sheep, sir? If you are implying bestiality, then that is an inexcusable abomination and perversion. Not something to be proud about. So tell us again why you made this reference? Comedy?

[scandal 951]

Another excellent and informative post, brother Ron.

Shall we discuss my proclivity for sheep, now that that's out of the way?

What exactly do you do to those poor sheep, sir? If you are implying bestiality, then that is an inexcusable abomination and perversion. Not something to be proud about. So tell us again why you made this reference? Comedy?

Errr? Is this where I plead the 5th?

The sheep and I have a mature consensual relationship, I assure you.

[웃 910]

Were you reading those numbers right a month and a half ago?

GDP $10.5 trillion

Debt $11.2 trillion

Cause the clock now shows:

GDP almost $12.6 trillion

Debt just over $12 trillion

You're saying maybe I need to visit my optometrist?

Yeah, I read it right. Debt is climbing (no duh!), but so is GDP, since we're climbing out of the recession. 3rd quarter growth is likely to be in the ~3% range.

A trillion here, a trillion there, who's counting?

So using the new numbers debt is about 95.2% of GDP.

So going off of what you wrote on the previous page you are saying our current situation is like taking out a $12 million 30-year mortgage on income of $12.6 million a year?

And on the previous page Friedman estimates our net worth as a country at $340 trillion. So it is like having a debt of $12,000 and net worth of $340,000?

Are these two accurate depictions of our current economic climate or are things far more dire? Cause the two above statements make it seem like things are not so bad.

This CNN article paints a darker picture regarding the massive interest on the debt: http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/19/news/economy/debt_interest/

Edited November 21, 2009 by Confucian

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Joseph, what's your views on Keynesian Economics?

[scandal 951]

So using the new numbers debt is about 95.2% of GDP.

So going off of what you wrote on the previous page you are saying our current situation is like taking out a $12 million 30-year mortgage on income of $12.6 million a year?

And on the previous page Friedman estimates our net worth as a country at $340 trillion. So it is like having a debt of $12,000 and net worth of $340,000?

Are these two accurate depictions of our current economic climate or are things far more dire? Cause the two above statements make it seem like things are not so bad.

This CNN article paints a darker picture regarding the massive interest on the debt: http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/19/news/economy/debt_interest/

Close.. a few corrections.

First, in your first sentence, substitute 'trillion' where you wrote 'million'.

Second, it's not really a 30 year mortgage, since much of the debt is in shorter term instruments (ranging from 30 day to 30 year, all throughout the yield curve).

The shorter term debt needs to be rolled over much more often, at prevailing market interest rates. That is a danger as rates start to increase.

Things are pretty bad... that's one thing liberals and conservatives should be able to agree on. The amount of debt outstanding, and who's holding it (Chinese, BofJ, Gulf states, etc.) is pretty alarming. It's not necessarily a doomsday scenario (yet), but we do need to take real action to get it under control. Spending must be cut. Revenues must be raised. That's clear. The details is in the political wrangling of what we cut and whose taxes we raise.

[NickD 203]

Being jobless and homeless would free me from that debt, thinking about that. Can tell you this, they won't find my signature on that IOU.