what does a trilion dollars look like?

Gosh, the economy... right guys? It's pretty bad and stuff. AMIRIGHT???? Man!

So anyway, we kept hearing about a few billion dollars over here and a few hundred billion dollars over there back in the fall. Going to banks and insurance companies - no big deal. Just nationalizing THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY, that's all. And at this point, we might as well attach a large General Motors sign to the front of the capital building. Wait, I think I can do that real quick.


And Ron Paul promised us that was not all we were going to see. We would soon see a trillion, he promised, begrudgingly.


So, let's see what one trillion looks like. (I am shamelessly copying and pasting the following images from a guy who used the Google Sketchup app):

This is a $100 bill. It's the largest denomination in general circulation:




A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily.




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...




Next up, $1 Billion. Now we are 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 might have to click the image to enlarge it and get a clear view - (notice that those pallets are double-stacked)...

CLICK HERE FOR IMAGE

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars" - that's what they're talking about.