Bob CollinsWhat is the main effect the economic meltdown and subsequent bailout efforts have had on America? It makes giant numbers that used to make our jaws drop, now make our shoulders shrug.
Example? Today some congressional economists reportedly whispered that the nation’s deficit will hit $1.8 trillion this year. That shatters the previous record of $459 billion, a number which once sounded like something other than the change you pull out of your pocket and throw on the dresser at night.
How much is 1.8 trillion?
>> It would take 57,077 years for you to count that high, assuming you don’t sleep. That doesn’t include leap days.
>> It’s 882,352,941 pounds of $100 bills. That was about the total weight of one tower of the World Trade Center.
>> You could walk around the earth 72,284,656 times, and you’d still be about 20,000 miles short of 1.8 trillion.
>> At its current rate, AIG could give bonuses to 4.4 million employees.
>> It could close the Minnesota budget deficit 331 times.
>> 51,385,994 people could take a backpacking trip around the world. (h/t: Daniel Konold via Twitter)
