Author Topic: What does One Trillion Dollars look like? (Read 3125 times)

RadioFreeSeaLab · « **on:** March 08, 2009, 10:35:34 PM »

Like this:

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

freedom lover · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2009, 11:42:20 PM »

Oh what I could do with all that money!

TechMan · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2009, 11:45:43 PM »

Ah wow! Quite the visualization.

Standing Wolf · « **Reply #3 on:** March 09, 2009, 09:03:31 AM »

[sincerity] Whew! Thank heaven it's government money rather than the tax payers'! [/sincerity]

Jamisjockey · « **Reply #4 on:** March 09, 2009, 09:59:00 AM »

Its not real money. Its debt. This is what one trillion dollars looks like:

erictank · « **Reply #5 on:** March 09, 2009, 05:38:40 PM »

Wow. Drives it home in a way the number alone can't.

In the opposite direction, I was surprised by how SMALL a space is taken up by one million dollars.

And freedom lover? I won't be greedy, I'd settle for just the one pallet's worth, a mere hundred million bucks. I think I could manage to comfort myself with such a minor sum...

Viking · « **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2009, 05:56:40 PM »

They would never notice if I took just one pallet, would they?

RevDisk · « **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2009, 06:13:10 PM »

Quote from: The Viking on March 09, 2009, 05:56:40 PM

They would never notice if I took just one pallet, would they?

You laugh, this happened during the early days of the Iraq invasion. A couple pallets of cash went missing. They noticed it missing, but they never looked too hard.

Interesting visualization...

Viking · « **Reply #8 on:** March 09, 2009, 06:31:58 PM »

Quote from: RevDisk on March 09, 2009, 06:13:10 PM

You laugh, this happened during the early days of the Iraq invasion. A couple pallets of cash went missing. They noticed it missing, but they never looked too hard.

Interesting visualization...

Yep, read about some of the lootin' going on. Not quite on that (whole pallets) scale, but more like "Let's squirrel away some of this money here, no one will notice"-scale.

SkunkApe · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2009, 10:09:36 PM »

How about putting 300 million people standing next to it, instead of just one guy? Not quite the same impact, huh?

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #10 on:** March 09, 2009, 10:15:21 PM »

Remember here that $2.5 million dollars used to be the financial freedom barrier - once you had that money, you could live off the proceeds for the rest of your life without working.

In other terms, 400,000 people can live off a trillion dollars for the rest of their lives without working, or, in fact, touching the princial.

Regolith · « **Reply #11 on:** March 09, 2009, 11:26:59 PM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on March 09, 2009, 10:15:21 PM

Remember here that $2.5 million dollars used to be the financial freedom barrier - once you had that money, you could live off the proceeds for the rest of your life without working.

Probably a bit higher these days.

If you put the $2.5m principle in a savings account that had, say, a .5% interest rate (which is really crappy - I don't think it'd be hard to find something that had a 3% or higher rate), you'd get $12,500 a year. You'd need food stamps... Put it in an account that gets you 3%, and it'd be $75,000. Not bad, but not exactly living the high life, either...

$10,000,000 is probably closer. A 3% interest on that would yield $300,000, which is a sizable income in most states (excluding some of the higher-end urban areas). Even a .5% interest rate would yield $50,000 a year.

zahc · « **Reply #12 on:** March 09, 2009, 11:56:31 PM »

I came up with the ten-million figure myself, back several years ago.

Jimmy Dean · « **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:30:28 AM »

that all depends on what you need to make to live comfy. In LA, at 3%, you would be fine with 2.5mil. 75k is well above the average paycheck. 75k and a couple of kids, and you still have a nice house and have a new car every couple of years.

Of course, if you get off your lazy ass and work, that 75k supplement to a avg 30k paycheck.....not bad at all....

Balog · « **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:40:26 AM »

Saying 75k a year is not enough to live comfortably on...... Wow. I would disagree with that, especially as the income is unrelated to cost of living.

Regolith · « **Reply #15 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:49:02 AM »

I didn't say one couldn't live comfortably on it, I merely mentioned that it wouldn't be "living the high life."

If I had a couple mill in the bank, I'd want to live a little bit better than the average Joe..,

And in either case, my point was that "worst case" i.e. you couldn't find a savings account to dump the principle in that returns more than .5% (which is around what most large banks will give you for your standard savings accounts), you couldn't live comfortably. You'd HAVE to find a savings account that would return around 3% for $2.5 mil to be viable to live off just the interest.

Balog · « **Reply #16 on:** March 10, 2009, 02:25:32 AM »

Quote from: Regolith on March 10, 2009, 01:49:02 AM

I didn't say one couldn't live comfortably on it, I merely mentioned that it wouldn't be "living the high life."

If I had a couple mill in the bank, I'd want to live a little bit better than the average Joe..,

And in either case, my point was that "worst case" i.e. you couldn't find a savings account to dump the principle in that returns more than .5% (which is around what most large banks will give you for your standard savings accounts), you couldn't live comfortably. You'd HAVE to find a savings account that would return around 3% for $2.5 mil to be viable to live off just the interest.

Meh, I guess we're different in that regard. And I still contend that you can always move to a poor part of the country and look down on the plebes all you want.

And really, .5%? L2credit union or something, I've never had that low a percent on a savings account. :rolleyes:

jackdanson · « **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2009, 11:26:08 AM »

Quote

They would never notice if I took just one pallet, would they?

No, and there are plenty of politicians who know that when they passed the stimulus bill. All of there pet projects and supporters now have funding, regardless of whether they "stimulate" they economy.

Viking · « **Reply #18 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:42:42 PM »

Quote from: jackdanson on March 10, 2009, 11:26:08 AM

No, and there are plenty of politicians who know that when they passed the stimulus bill. All of there pet projects and supporters now have funding, regardless of whether they "stimulate" they economy.

Do you think we could get some stimulation to fund The APS Pirate Hunting Expedition? I think a dozen or so pallets would cover all expenses (ammunition, food, rum, ammunition, fuel, rum, ammunition)

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Author Topic: What does One Trillion Dollars look like? (Read 3125 times)