What does a trillion dollars look like?

**Ron Burgundy?** · March 08, 2009, 06:36 PM

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I found this interesting. Plus it has pictures which goes hand in hand with my attention span.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

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...

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)
So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.

**Da Skinna** · March 08, 2009, 06:39 PM

I was always astounded at how much we can throw these simple words around. If people can picture just what it exactly looks like maybe we'd be a little more cautious.

**C-Rob** · March 08, 2009, 06:50 PM

I "stumbled" upon that earlier today. It IS interesting. You'd have to spend a billion dollars a thousand times to reach that.

**Saturn** · March 08, 2009, 06:52 PM

I wish that was me in the last picture.

**Ron Burgundy?** · March 08, 2009, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by Saturn

I wish that was me in the last picture.

lol QFT

**Thorn777** · March 08, 2009, 07:19 PM

The 3d one would do to.

**Da Skinna** · March 08, 2009, 08:24 PM

That's like 4 acres of cash that trillion dollars..

**Ron Burgundy?** · March 08, 2009, 08:27 PM

I love how anti-climatic 1 million dollars looks. It was well used as comedy in the movie Dodgeball.

**Da Skinna** · March 08, 2009, 08:30 PM

It's like an expensive dish and you get it, the plate's huge but it's like some French raw meat thing... underwhelming.

**Ron Burgundy?** · March 08, 2009, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by Da Skinna

It's like an expensive dish and you get it, the plate's huge but it's like some French raw meat thing... underwhelming.

lol, perfect analogy.

**jankren** · March 08, 2009, 08:45 PM

So basically George Bush literally threw that much money into thin air? Wow ...

**Ron Burgundy?** · March 08, 2009, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by jankren

So basically George Bush literally threw that much money into thin air? Wow ...

ok I see what you did there.

**Da Skinna** · March 08, 2009, 09:28 PM

That's like more than Scrooge could frick around with.

Scrooge McDuck sorry.

**Quadratus** · March 08, 2009, 09:35 PM

/replaces man in pic w/ pic of obama..

now we are talking!

Originally Posted by jankren

So basically George Bush literally threw that much money into thin air? Wow ...

You mean Obama, not bush.

**The spartan** · March 08, 2009, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by Quadratus

/replaces man in pic w/ pic of obama..

now we are talking!

You mean Obama, not bush.

No, Bush has spent more than Obama could dream of for war.

But now we are talking about government money here. It isn't real money. The United States government doesn't have all this money just lying around. We are using credit as money at this point. It is all imaginary, as it were.

**CtrlAltDe1337** · April 01, 2009, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by The spartan

No, Bush has spent more than Obama could dream of for war.

Obama has already spent more than Bush spent on Iraq and Afghanistan IIRC.

**jankren** · March 08, 2009, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by Quadratus

You mean Obama, not bush.

I meant Bush not Obama.

Where is the benefit of Bush's $1 trillion for the American people? Like I said it vanished into thin air. American roads and bridges didnt get nothing out of it. It all went to Iraqi roads and bridges which are being built, destroyed, built, destroyed, and so forth.

**Aetius** · March 08, 2009, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by jankren

I meant Bush not Obama.

Where is the benefit of Bush's $1 trillion for the American people? Like I said it vanished into thin air. American roads and bridges didnt get nothing out of it. It all went to Iraqi roads and bridges which are being built, destroyed, built, destroyed, and so forth.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home