The US Federal Reserve intends to spend more than $1,000bn battling this financial crisis. But what does that mean, really?
Jess Bachman of Wallstats.com last week put the number into context:
One trillion dollars; it’s a number that few people can comprehend, let alone your standard nine digit calculator. There have been attempts to put this number into perspective before. A trillion dollar bills laid end to end would reach the sun or you spend a dollar per second for 32,000 years or one trillion dollars in pennies would weigh as much as 2,755,778 Argentinosauruses (the largest known dinosaur).
Still not convinced? How about this for an illustration:
There are more thought-provoking ways of visualizing $1,000bn via this link.
Related links:
Fed’s shock and awe – John Authers / Short View
Economists react: ‘Huge step forward’ – WSJ Real Time Economics Blog