Our national debt - what could you buy
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:26 pm
Confronting the federal deficit starts with grasping just how colossal that number actually is. So, what would $1 trillion get you?
The figure is almost incomprehensible: $1,000,000,000,000. One trillion dollars. That's a dozen zeros.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that during the first nine months of fiscal 2010 -- which ends September 30 -- the federal government spent $1 trillion more than it took in. That's another $1 trillion added to a total national debt that stood at just over $13 trillion as of the Fourth of July. (On the bright side, the trillion-dollar nine-month deficit was about $80 billion less red ink than flowed during the same period last year.)
But, seriously, how much is $1 trillion? To help you wrap your head around that mind-boggling number, and to try to put deficit spending into perspective, consider what $1 trillion will buy, expressed in terms we can all understand:
$1 Trillion Would Buy ...
40,816,326 New Cars
5,574,136 Typical American Homes
140 Billion Hours of Labor
A Year's Salary for 14.7 Million Teachers
The Annual Salaries of All 535 Members of Congress for the Next 10,742 Years
The Star Power of LeBron James for the Next 50,000 Years
1.33 Trillion Chocolate Bars
1,333 Celebrity Divorce Settlements
A Guaranteed $6.3 Billion Payout for a 65-Year-Old Man Every Month for the Rest of His Life
A One-Year CD Yielding $15.5 Billion in Interest
Everyone knows that interest rates on bank accounts, money-market funds and certificates of deposit are ludicrously low. But even at just 1.55% -- the best rate we could find recently -- $1 trillion socked away in a one-year CD would still yield a handsome return.
Annual Base Pay for 59.5 Million U.S. Army Privates
Replace Annual Incomes for 19.2 Million American Families
Pay the Estate Taxes for 2,222 Billionaires
Let's assume that, as we expect, Congress reinstates the federal estate tax retroactively to January 1, 2010, with a $3.5 million exemption and a rate of 45%. And assume that the late George Steinbrenner's taxable estate is $1 billion. The tax bill would be almost $450 million. That $1 trillion would be enough to cover the estate taxes of a lot more billionaires who might die before Congress acts.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budget ... ional-debt
The figure is almost incomprehensible: $1,000,000,000,000. One trillion dollars. That's a dozen zeros.
The Congressional Budget Office reports that during the first nine months of fiscal 2010 -- which ends September 30 -- the federal government spent $1 trillion more than it took in. That's another $1 trillion added to a total national debt that stood at just over $13 trillion as of the Fourth of July. (On the bright side, the trillion-dollar nine-month deficit was about $80 billion less red ink than flowed during the same period last year.)
But, seriously, how much is $1 trillion? To help you wrap your head around that mind-boggling number, and to try to put deficit spending into perspective, consider what $1 trillion will buy, expressed in terms we can all understand:
$1 Trillion Would Buy ...
40,816,326 New Cars
5,574,136 Typical American Homes
140 Billion Hours of Labor
A Year's Salary for 14.7 Million Teachers
The Annual Salaries of All 535 Members of Congress for the Next 10,742 Years
The Star Power of LeBron James for the Next 50,000 Years
1.33 Trillion Chocolate Bars
1,333 Celebrity Divorce Settlements
A Guaranteed $6.3 Billion Payout for a 65-Year-Old Man Every Month for the Rest of His Life
A One-Year CD Yielding $15.5 Billion in Interest
Everyone knows that interest rates on bank accounts, money-market funds and certificates of deposit are ludicrously low. But even at just 1.55% -- the best rate we could find recently -- $1 trillion socked away in a one-year CD would still yield a handsome return.
Annual Base Pay for 59.5 Million U.S. Army Privates
Replace Annual Incomes for 19.2 Million American Families
Pay the Estate Taxes for 2,222 Billionaires
Let's assume that, as we expect, Congress reinstates the federal estate tax retroactively to January 1, 2010, with a $3.5 million exemption and a rate of 45%. And assume that the late George Steinbrenner's taxable estate is $1 billion. The tax bill would be almost $450 million. That $1 trillion would be enough to cover the estate taxes of a lot more billionaires who might die before Congress acts.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budget ... ional-debt