Back in August of 2008, during the campaign, candidate Obama pushed for a $50 billion economic stimulus plan . At the time, that seemed like a huge amount of money, and to many it looked to be an overt transfer of wealth. Well, we now understand that $50 billion was mere pocket change.
The Senate just approved their version of the economic ‘stimulus’ bill this afternoon. The cost of the bill is currently estimated at around $850 billion dollars, and is nearly 800 pages long. That is slightly more than one billion dollars per page. Sounds quite harmless, doesn’t it? We have been so conditioned over the last few months to accepting these huge numbers that the real meaning doesn’t even register. But how many of us can even comprehend the enormity of such figures.
What does $850 billion look like? How do we understand what these numbers mean? If we write it out, it looks like this – $850,000,000,000. A big number, but still meaningless. So how do we understand how much money we are talking about? Let me give you an example.
First I must remind you that these are your hard earned tax dollars that we are talking about.
I have tried many ways to demonstrate the amount of our money in this ’stimulus’ bill and have settled on one that is easily visualized and allows you to get a real grasp on what $850 billion really looks like.
The Department of the Treasury sets the thickness of all United States currency (bills) at .0043 inches . That means that there are 232.6 bills in a one inch stack (1/.0043).
Let’s assume those are all $20 bills,
meaning the one inch stack of bills would be worth $4,660 (233 x $20)
Now it is time for us to do a little experiment. Knowing that the one inch stack of bills is worth roughly $4,660, and without trying to calculate or think too hard, how high would the stack be to equal $850 billion dollars? After you have made your estimate, continue reading for the answer.
The figures used below have been rounded to the nearest dollar for clarity. Following are the simple calculations to get the answer:
- There are 232.558 bills per inch in the stack (1/.0043)
If we assume that the stack includes all $20 bills, the stack would equal $4,651 per inch (232.558 x 20).
That would mean that a one foot stack would equal $55,812 (12 x $4,651)
There are 5280 feet in a mile, so a stack one mile high would equal $294,687,360 ($55,812 x 5280)
If we divide the $850 billion by the dollar equivalent of a one mile stack, we get the number of miles of $20 bills it takes to equal the amount of stimulus spending. (850,000,000,000 / 294,687,360)
The answer is that the stack would be 2,884 miles high. Now, I am worried that a stack that high will topple over, so let’s imagine that we carefully lay the stack over on its side.
Now we have 2,884 miles of $20 bills tightly stacked on edge. Mapquest reports the distance from New York City to Los Angeles to be 2,784 miles, meaning that if you decided to ‘tour’ our stack of bills you would be driving from New York to Los Angeles, and would have an additional 100 miles left when you arrived at L.A.
Now THAT sounds like a lot of money. Yet our representatives speak as if they were asking no more than we ‘pick up the tab for lunch.’
Another interesting fact: President Obama hopes to create or save 4 million jobs with this bill. If he is successful, that would equal a cost of $212,500.00 per job. I will take one of those jobs!
These results seem unbelievable, and we have all received outrageous claims on the internet and in emails, so I want everyone to verify the calculations yourself. I ask you to please check these calculations using your computer or simple calculator. Never just accept such information on faith.
I have tried to provide all of the calculations and references used, but if you think you found an error, want additional information, or want a copy of my spreadsheet with all calculations, you may make the request through this email address: tmc32rc@fuse.net
Thank you,
Tim (tmc32)
http://knowsomuch.blogivists.com/
Related Links:
http://knowsomuch.blogivists.com/2009/02/08/we-must-not-share-the-blame/
http://knowsomuch.blogivists.com/2009/02/07/three-rinos-move-left-for-stimulus/
References:
Obama recommends $50 billion stimulus
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/01/Obama_reveals_50_billion_stimulus_package/UPI-22421217621484/
U.S. Treasury – Currency dimensions
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/production.shtml
Mapquest – New York to Los Angeles
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=New+York&1s=NY&2c=Los+Angeles&2s=CA
Spreadsheet used for Calculations:
http://www.divshare.com/download/6540111-5b7
Entries (RSS)
Imagine that someone were able to spend one million dollars every hour,
night and day. How long would it take to spend the $850 billion from the stimulus bill?
If someone began spending one million dollars per hour, day and night, without any interest or growth it would take 97 years to spend all of the money. If that person began spending that money as the New Years ball dropped back in 1912, they would not run out of money until 4 pm on December 18th of this year.
The good news is that he will do just fine, because the Obama administration will take care of him if he becomes indigent. That is IF there is any of our stimulus money left in December.
[...] Know So Much » The Size of Money [...]
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