Mar 11, 2009: The Bailout
I received these pictures and the accompanying text via email, with nothing to identify the original author. Since it was so well done I am going to copy it here, and the author can make themselves known if they wish. The cellar will only let me do four pics at a time so this will have to be over two posts.
[SIZE="4"]The Bailout[/SIZE]
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.
[ATTACH]22370[/ATTACH]
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.
[ATTACH]22371[/ATTACH]
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.
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While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...
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And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...
[ATTACH]22374[/ATTACH]
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..
[ATTACH]22375[/ATTACH]
(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.
don't forget those are stacks of HUNDRED dollar bills too.
So were the three plane loads of pallets that went to Iraq. :(
don't forget those are stacks of HUNDRED dollar bills too.
Yes, we were able to follow along with the illustrations. ;)
well aren't you just the schmarty pants of the group? (insert applicable smilie here)
Makes me really wonder why so many people have to live homeless, without food, clothes, in poverty, when such large amounts are just thrown around for random and often poorly managed purposes.
For some reason the imagery of the snake eating it's own tail comes to mind. Only maybe the snake is made of gold and bureaucracy, and all the people on the outside can do is watch it go round and round and pick up what little pieces of gold poo it leaves behind....
Yeah I'm really tired, I'll cease my prattle now :P
When all of this bailout, stimulus and recovery money is spent, there will be 9 trillion dollars on the red side of the ledger. We probably haven't got the facilities to print that much worthless paper.
That's the beauty of it, they don't even have to print the stuff. It's just 1s and 0s in the computer. :haha:
This is the original, "A Little Perspective on $87 billion:"
http://87billion.com/... We probably haven't got the facilities to print that much worthless paper.
Shouldn't be a problem:
With growing numbers like these, you coulda/shoulda waited until Saturday to publish this post - Saturday being
Pi Day (
also an irrational number, though it's a far happier thing than all those pallets of cash)
[COLOR="White"]And yes, I celebrate Pi Day. [/COLOR]
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
Pie Day....
:yum:
oh,wait....
Sure it's big. But can it get hard?
Sure it's big. But can it get hard?
I don't know, but I know I am getting f***ed by it.
I don't know, but I know I am getting f***ed by it.
Then you'll be ready for me. Muahahahaha
That's it. I am no longer using paper money. Dubloons or nothing from here on out. :vikingsmi [SIZE="1"](couldn't find a pirate)[/SIZE]
That's it. I am no longer using paper money. Dubloons or nothing from here on out. :vikingsmi [SIZE="1"](couldn't find a pirate)[/SIZE]
Maybe we should go to a monkey-based economy? Not a lot of people have monkeys....
Maybe we should go to a monkey-based economy? Not a lot of people have monkeys....
I can see it now:
"You're bill comes to 47 spider monkeys and 3 Rhesus"
"Do you have change for a Baboon?"
So change for a Rhesus would be Rhesus pieces?
So change for a Rhesus would be Rhesus pieces?
Or Rhesus Pieces of Eight. Argh!!!
With growing numbers like these, you coulda/shoulda waited until Saturday to publish this post - Saturday being Pi Day (also an irrational number, though it's a far happier thing than all those pallets of cash)
[COLOR="White"]And yes, I celebrate Pi Day. [/COLOR]
One of my friends is hosting a Pi-rate party on Pi day.
It is slated to begin around 3-ish (which would be the 15th hour ...)
[COLOR="White"]nerds nerds nerdy-nerd-nerd-nerds[/COLOR]
Money, schmunny. I want to know more about that Google thingamajig where you did that. Brilliant job, Bruce.
Money, schmunny. I want to know more about that Google thingamajig where you did that. Brilliant job, Bruce.
:rtfm: :bitching: ;)
Oh and click the link.
Shouldn't be a problem:
I'll take two. Here is 25 cents.
Makes me really wonder why so many people have to live homeless, without food, clothes, in poverty, when such large amounts are just thrown around for random and often poorly managed purposes.
For some reason the imagery of the snake eating it's own tail comes to mind. Only maybe the snake is made of gold and bureaucracy, and all the people on the outside can do is watch it go round and round and pick up what little pieces of gold poo it leaves behind....
Yeah I'm really tired, I'll cease my prattle now :P
"Little pieces of gold poo..."? That's on the verge of poetic...or something...:unsure:
"Little pieces of gold poo..."? That's on the verge of poetic...or something...:unsure:
Why thank you, I'm known as the best crap poet around. -> A pun and an oxymoron, aren't I awesome? :p
Money, schmunny. I want to know more about that Google thingamajig where you did that. Brilliant job, Bruce.
Moi? Nay nay, ZenGum posted the email that was going around last week, in which the author linked to the Google thingamajig he used to create the illustrations.
I did however find this;
Therefore, a trillion dollars is ten billion (1010) $100 dollar bills, corresponding to a stack of bills 1200 km or 740 miles high! If the bills were $1 bills, there would be1012 (a trillion) of them, and they’d form a stack 74,000 miles high, or 30% the distance to the Moon!
Suppose the bills were joined end-to-end. Dollar bills are about 6 inches or 15 cm long, so 10 billion $100 dollar bills would form a belt 1.5 x 106 (1.5 million) km long. That’s about 900,000 miles long, almost four times the Earth-Moon distance.
And if you string a trillion $1 bills end-to-end, you’d get a belt o’ bills a hundred times longer than that, or about 90 million miles. You’re past Mars’s orbit and entering the asteroid belt going away from the Sun, and in the other direction, you’ve about reached the Sun!
My post referred to the 363 tons of $100 bills shipped to Iraq.
It just occured to me that Elspode might have been right. All I did was copy and paste from an email I received. I don't nkow who actually worked all that out, but it might well have been a person named Bruce. Who knows?
And I was wondering when we'd see the stats you just provided, about the money going to or past the moon and such. That is the normal comparison, although that is a bit silly cause virtually none of us really know how far it is to the moon.
Maybe, but I'd guess he just fucked up. Too many lovely women in his life, no time to stop and read the details. :haha:
Uh, "normal comparison"? What could be normal about attempting to describe a trillion dollars? I mean it ain't like discussing whether you do the across or down first in the daily crossword puzzle.
By normal comparison I meant that there are various standard comparisons that are widely used:
Smaller than a human hair/fingernail
Bigger than a tennis court/soccer field
Taller than the Statue of Liberty
Enough [water] to fill an Olympic swimming pool (or Sydney Harbour, down under)
Either piled up or laid end to end, would go around the world X number of times (or would go to the moon and back).
The sort of well known things that journalists compare things to.
And don't forget Rhode Island! We'd want to know how deep the dollars would get if they were used to fill Rhode Island.
Ease up on Little Rhody there, sweet!
I'd like to know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Zen, please illustrate.
4,000, apparently, but they must be specially imported from Lancashire.
Here ya go:
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:lol:
That really puts it into perspective.
Maybe, but I'd guess he just fucked up. Too many lovely women in his life, no time to stop and read the details. :haha:
In case you all haven't been paying attention, I fuck up a lot. Scour my posts diligently and you'll find that I have never claimed perfection. Quite the opposite, actually. :D
Well yes and no.
Yes... you never claim perfection, quite the contrary, your self deprecation is legendary.
No... you may "fuck up a lot", but not in the Cellar. I find your posts to be clear, informative, always eloquent and frequently poignant.
I also find your competition to charm the ladies, insurmountable. :cry:
Bruce, you have no problems that a trillion dollars wouldn't fix ;)
That certainly would be helpful in hiding them, anyway.
I could fill the tip jar, which is a little low. :idea:
How the hell am I going to wheel barrow a trillion dollars to the store to buy bread two years from now?
Geez. That will require either 1 month of continuous work or sharing my loaf of bread with the wheel barrow team.
Completely unworkable either way.
You'll need a little more than a wheelbarrow
Ten semi trucks if I remember a graphic posted here a while ago...
Regarding hyperinflation, a friend and I came up with the idea of buying some Zimbabwe $10,000,000,000,000 notes for, say, 50 cents each, and selling them as novelty souveniers for, say, $2 (real money) each. Part procedes to charity.
Would you buy one? Just for the novelty value?
Actually I'd buy 10. Seriously. PM me.
Well, I could PM you, but since I have no Zimbabwean currency nor much idea where to start getting some ... what do you want me to say in my PM?
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"](cue dirty joke from Classic)[/COLOR]
lol - dunno - you're the one with the idea, not me. I was simply putting in my order.
Well, I could PM you, but since I have no Zimbabwean currency nor much idea where to start getting some ... what do you want me to say in my PM?
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"](cue dirty joke from Classic)[/COLOR]
ROAD TRIP--ZIMBABWE BOUND!
I'll drive the first leg. :driving:
Bad dog, get off my leg. :haha: