Comments on: What’s a Billion?

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:00:14 +0000

@Uwe – Thank you for adding that information. You are right — that makes the financial situation one thousand times worse! It’s good to hear from you, Uwe.

By: Uwe

Uwe — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:31:50 +0000

One little correction may be allowed: In German 1 Billion is not the same as in English. 1 Billion / German is 1,000 billion / English or 1 trillion / English. 1 billion / English is called in German 1 Milliarde. This fact shows that the financial situation in Germany after the first world war was worse yet. (Sorry for my perhaps incorrect English.)

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:09:44 +0000

@Bill – I remember Frau Long telling us stories like that of her life between the world wars. Thanks for sharing that one!

@Ray – Thanks for the link. Yet another way to visualize just how much a billion is.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:22:39 +0000

With all the talk lately of billions of dollars, I came across this website some time ago that helps one understand just how big a given quantity is using lowly a penny for scale. http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/nine.asp

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:47:02 +0000

The German Mark reminded me of a story Mrs. Long told us in class one day. She said her family had bought a nice rug for their home, but decided the next day to return it. That night the Mark was devalued again and the money they got back was then only about enough for a cup of coffee!

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:16:38 +0000

@Andrew – That’s a good example you gave of the relationship between a million and a billion.

I agree with you about the lack of trust that we have for our government. When politicians lie to us and lie to us, it’s very hard to trust them. I was very disappointed in McCain for voting yes for the Senate version of the bailout. He has “gone on the record” that, when he’s president, he will veto bills that come to him full of pork. Yet he just voted yes on the bailout bill that is chocked full of pork!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:38:12 +0000

I recently read a story of a professor who started a college physics class by drawing a line across the entire blackboard and marking one end “0″ and the other as “1 billion.” He then asked students to identify where on the line 1 million would fall. Most students put 1 million about 1/3 of the way across the board. The professor proceeded to demonstrate that, in fact, the 1 million point is nearly on top of the zero, since 1 million is 1/1000th of the way to 1 billion.

Someone also recently pointed out that the American economy usually spends over 700 billion a week.

I think our politicians have done a poor job of defending their bailout plan. Compounding the problem is the media’s inability to clearly articulate the situation and their ideological bent toward certain types of solutions. Further, the average American has only a cursory understanding of economics and large-scale business. Much of what is happening no longer makes sense to people who would have trouble balancing a checkbook.

I think the fundamental political problem is that the American people don’t trust politicians to do the best thing for the country. Even though many supposedly informed people support the plan, Americans are very nervous about the amount of money and politicians’ track record. Until Americans trust their government again, it’s unlikely that they’ll support such an enormous increase in government control.

Ultimately, there are too many things that politicians and businessmen can’t control. None of them could stop a hurricane or even redirect it. None can make it rain or make it stop raining. None can see the future. Somehow, it doesn’t make sense to trust them when there is an alternative Who can do all of those things.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:59:47 +0000

@Vikki – I agree that I’m at least a little desensitized because I hear million (now billion) so much that it seems in some way normal. But part of my numbness is that the enormity doesn’t really register with me – it’s so out of my usual frame of reference! It’s kind of like trying to empathize with a friend who has lost a parent when you’ve never lost one yourself. Once you do lose a parent, you suddenly realize very how hard it must have hit your friend when he lost his parent and how hollow your words may have rung. I can’t even think in terms of millions, billions, or trillions when my frame of reference is so totally in the hundreds and the occasional low thousands.

When I first heard of people building half-a-million- to one-million-dollar houses a few years back, I could not fathom going into that kind of debt with a hope of paying it off in this lifetime! (And I still cannot fathom it!) Hey, maybe I’m not part of the problem in the current mortgage crisis after all!

By: Vikki

Vikki — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:33:02 +0000

I think we’ve become so used to hearing these kinds of numbers over the years that we’ve become desensitized to just how huge $770 billion really is. Especially when you hear about people like good ole Billy Gates who was recently knocked down to the world’s third richest man because he only has a measly $58 billion! http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/06/business/buffett.php

When I was a kid, hearing that someone is a millionaire was really impressive. Now, we tend to think that a million sounds like nothing – even the lotteries are shelling out more than that.