April 5, 2009
Andy Weighs In On The National Debt
Andy Rooney On Millions, Billions And Trillions
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Play CBS Video Video Andy And The National Debt Andy Rooney knows a lot of things, but he'll be the 1st to admit all those trillions in our National Debt can get a little confusing.
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Andy Rooney (CBS)
You'd probably be surprised to hear me say there are quite a few things I don't know anything about, but you can't worry about everything you don't know because no on else seems to know much about those things either.
I saw a story in the paper that said our national debt is now over $11 trillion. I also know this because the other day I walked past The National Debt Clock they have off Sixth Avenue here in New York. They have to put up a new clock pretty soon so that it will register a quadrillion dollars.
One of the things I don't know is how much a trillion dollars is and I know a quadrillion is a lot more than that. My dictionary says: "The cardinal number that is equal to 10 to the 12th power."
Does that help you understand how much a trillion dollars is? I don't think the dictionary knows how much it is either. What's a "cardinal number" anyway? How many cheeseburgers could I buy with a cardinal number? Give me something specific that I could understand.
A trillion dollars is 1,000 billion. A billion is 1000 million. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says it comes up with $700 million in paper money every day. About half of that is in one dollar bills.
It also said the average dollar bill lasts two years. The average $100 bill lasts almost seven and a half years, I don't know about that. I know a hundred dollars doesn't last me seven years.
They say people don't like $100 bills because they're apt to confuse them with dollar bills in their pocket. Now who would say a thing like that? I mean if I have a $100 bill in my pocket, I'm not about to confuse it with a one dollar bill or with a note listing what groceries I should buy, either.
It's a good feeling to have some change in your pocket. Something to jingle. I don't care much for fifty cent pieces but you don't run into them anymore anyway. Silver dollars are just for the coin collectors now.
If politicians had to use silver dollars to pay off our national debt, maybe we wouldn't have one.
Written by Andy Rooney
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Here's another way to think about a trillion dollars. Imagine a stack of nice, new $1000 bills. They are flat, crisp, have a lovely picture of Grover Cleveland on them, and most importantly, they stack well.
A stack of these $1000 bills six inches high would contain about 1000 bills, or a total value of about $1 million. If the stack were 500 feet high, which I imagine is about the height of the Washington Monument, the value of all the bills in the stack would be about $1 billion.
But to represent a TRILLION dollars, this stack of crisp $1000 bills would have to be 95 miles high!! This is about 10 times as high as the highest-flying commercial aircraft.
Does this help put it in perspecrtive?
Thats not accurate the debt reported by the treasury was closer to $10.5+ trillion when Bush left office, other wise very good post TKJohnson.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
The government and the banks tell you that a gold standard is foolish. But they hate gold only because they can't print gold. Gold cannot be counterfeited--by the government or anybody else!
Pleeeze do us ALL a favor and retire.
Talking stupid on the television is not in your
best interest.
There are about 301 million people in the U.S. Simple arithmetic show us that one trillion (1 followed by 12 zeros) divided by 301 million (301 followed by 6 zeros gives us $ 3,322.26 per person. Budget numbers often contain figures in billions ( 1 followed by 9 zeros) which I readily think of as about $ 3.32 per person. For a traditional nuclear family of 4, just multiply by 4 to get an idea of what the numbers mean for such a family.
If we had a national debt of 10 trillion dollars, we would owe about $ 33,222.60 on behalf of every person in the U.S.
On a related topic: the national debt was about 1 trillion when Reagan took office in 1981. By the end of George W. Bush's presidency, the debt had grown to more than 8 trillion. One way to look at this growth is that it doubled 3 times ( 2, 4, 8 trillion) in just over 27 years. This means that the average doubling time was about 9 years ( 27 divided by 3). The "rule of 72" tells us that the debt was growing at an annual compounded rate of about 8 percent. And note that the growth was mostly during Republican administrations.
..........We are now entering the era of "Responsibility" according to our young start celebrity Teleprompter President........
YEP............Change We Can Believe In.................(insert eye roll)
1 million seconds = 11.57 days
1 billion seconds = 32.7 years
1 trillion seconds = 32,000 years
Well, it's a lot of money.
(sorry...I couldn't help it)
nyway, having been a long time fan of yours, sometimes I find myself hearing your voice when I write stuff. Oh, nothing scary.
well, OK, I DO rant on occasion, but, don't we all?
I could write my entire answer here, but, the folks at 60 Minutes might not like the length.
I wrote a 'thing' for Humor Times (no-pay, what the hey...) and it might help in explaining how much money that is.
Of course, you might get mad, too.
Oh well. I will still remain a fan of yours even if you send the 'bully squad' after me.
(that's what I used to call the guys, and Leslie, too....hey. Tose guys are tough!)
Well, here it is: http://www.humortimes.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76
I call it, Economics, relatively speaking.
Well, keep up the good work. And, if you feel like you need a break sometime in the future? I hear Bill Giest has some tricks that can help.
The answers are understandable.
Excellent commentary on the national debt ... in fact, It might be even a little easier for everyone if you ask the question, "If you wanted to live as long as possible, would you want to live 200 years or 1 trillion seconds? Most will be surprised to learn that 1 trillion seconds is equal to more than 31,000 years (31,688)! Astounding, huh? Scary, too, if our gross national debt is nearly $11 trillion and climbing!
Best regards,
CJF
- by tcsinoid April 5, 2009 8:09 PM EDT
- I hope the pictures come attached,,, Some boby smarter than me has no doubt all ready sent this e-mail to Andy,, But I'll give it a try
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See all 19 CommentsSubject: What does a TRILLION DOLLARS look like???
This may be a rerun for some, but it's so impressive, it should be viewed often.
It's the legacy we're leaving our grandchildren! And Great grandchildren!!
What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
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 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.
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.
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.
While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...
And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...
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...
(And notice the fellow at the lower left corner - and that 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.
I'll take just one stack...