Contemplating Bush’s $4 trillion dollar budget proposal and his $1 trillion dollar war and the recent AP poll where over half the people said ending the war would be a big stimulus to the US economy, this item is an illustration of just how big one trillion dollars is.
(Note: the figures are out of date (from 1995) but even adjusted for inflation they begin to suggest just what Bush’s five trillion dollars could do in better hands.)
$1,000,000,000,000.00
In an article that appeared in the Denver Post in September 1995, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm wrote:
“We are approaching a five trillion dollar debt. We tire of large numbers. My friend, Dr. William Fifer has figured out a dramatic way to explain $1 trillion. He says that for $1 trillion we could:
Build a $75,000 house, place it on $5,000 worth of land, furnish it with $10,000 worth of furniture, put a $10,000 car in the garage, and give this to every family in KANSAS, MISSOURI, OKLAHOMA, COLORADO, NEBRASKA and IOWA.
Having done this, you would still have enough left to build a $10 million hospital and a $10 million library in each of the 250 cities and towns throughout the six-state region.
After having done that, you would still have enough money left to build 500 schools at $10 million each for the communities in the region.
And after having done that, you would still have enough left from the original $1 trillion to put aside, at 10 percent annual interest, a sum of money that would pay a salary of $25,000 each per year for an army of 10,000 nurses and the same for 10,000 teachers.
You would still have enough for an annual cash allowance of $5,000 for each and every family throughout the six-state region not just for one year, but FOREVER!
This begins to suggest what American society has foregone in favor of Bush’s war.
(Perhaps someone with economics skills could update this and send it to members of Congress. They toss these huge numbers around so casually they seem to have mostly lost sight of economics “on the ground”.)
How much is one trillion dollars?
Contemplating Bush’s $4 trillion dollar budget proposal and his $1 trillion dollar war and the recent AP poll where over half the people said ending the war would be a big stimulus to the US economy, this item is an illustration of just how big one trillion dollars is.
(Note: the figures are out of date (from 1995) but even adjusted for inflation they begin to suggest just what Bush’s five trillion dollars could do in better hands.)
$1,000,000,000,000.00
In an article that appeared in the Denver Post in September 1995, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm wrote:
“We are approaching a five trillion dollar debt. We tire of large numbers. My friend, Dr. William Fifer has figured out a dramatic way to explain $1 trillion. He says that for $1 trillion we could:
This begins to suggest what American society has foregone in favor of Bush’s war.
(Perhaps someone with economics skills could update this and send it to members of Congress. They toss these huge numbers around so casually they seem to have mostly lost sight of economics “on the ground”.)