Tuesday, September 20, 2005
How Much is a Billion Dollars?
cd's post earlier today (back) reminded me of a speech I give to my long-suffering friends when I'm drunk and worked up about class politics.
Let's say a one thousand dollar bill is 1 millimeter thick.
1 millimeter = 0.0393701 inch
Four hundredths of an inch, pretty close to reality.
If you have a stack of thousand dollar bills one meter high, you're a millionaire.
1 meter = 3.2808399 feet
That's a stack of thousand dollar bills little bit above your waist if you're a 6 foot tall person.
Most people think, "It's just numbers. Basically it means richer than I'll ever be. Millionaire, billionaire, not that different. "
Not so much.
If you have a stack of thousand dollar bills one kilometer high, you're a billionaire.
1 kilometer = 3,280.839895 feet
That's a stack of thousand dollar bills as tall as two Sears Towers on top of each other plus a high-rise apartment building, or two.
1 kilometer = 0.6213712 mile
More than half the way from Sea Level to Denver. Straight up into the sky. One million Grover Clevelands stacked on top of each other.
Conclusion: the non-metric system (whatever the hell it's called) is a ploy by the capitalist overlords to prevent US and UK citizens from conceptualizing the wealth of the super-rich or the size of government expenditures. No wonder Europe has more egalitarian societies.
Bill Gates' net worth (2005): $46.5 billion
Cost of War in Iraq to US taxpayers (by end of FY 2005): $204.6 billion
As the L-Curve guy says, "You will not be outraged by outrageous statistics if you don't comprehend the numbers." Word.
Let's say a one thousand dollar bill is 1 millimeter thick.
1 millimeter = 0.0393701 inch
Four hundredths of an inch, pretty close to reality.
If you have a stack of thousand dollar bills one meter high, you're a millionaire.
1 meter = 3.2808399 feet
That's a stack of thousand dollar bills little bit above your waist if you're a 6 foot tall person.
Most people think, "It's just numbers. Basically it means richer than I'll ever be. Millionaire, billionaire, not that different. "
Not so much.
If you have a stack of thousand dollar bills one kilometer high, you're a billionaire.
1 kilometer = 3,280.839895 feet
That's a stack of thousand dollar bills as tall as two Sears Towers on top of each other plus a high-rise apartment building, or two.
1 kilometer = 0.6213712 mile
More than half the way from Sea Level to Denver. Straight up into the sky. One million Grover Clevelands stacked on top of each other.
Conclusion: the non-metric system (whatever the hell it's called) is a ploy by the capitalist overlords to prevent US and UK citizens from conceptualizing the wealth of the super-rich or the size of government expenditures. No wonder Europe has more egalitarian societies.
Bill Gates' net worth (2005): $46.5 billion
Cost of War in Iraq to US taxpayers (by end of FY 2005): $204.6 billion
As the L-Curve guy says, "You will not be outraged by outrageous statistics if you don't comprehend the numbers." Word.
