What does one trillion dollars look like?

Pretty interesting comparison. So when listening to Health Care Reform and bailouts, this is how it looks in dollar terms... Sad, really.

$100. We'll start with a hundred dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.


$10,000. A packet of one hundred hundred dollar bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains ten thousand dollars. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for a week or two of shamefully decadent fun.


$1,000,000. Believe it or not, this next little pile is a million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.



$100,000,000. While a measly 1 million dollars looked a little unimpressive, 100 million dollars is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...


$1,000,000,000. A BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...


$1,000,000,000,000. A TRILLION dollars! This is that number we've been hearing about so much. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. And notice that those pallets are double-stacked. So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... this is what they're talking about.

Submitted by: Jerry