Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
5 WAYS TO VISUALIZE OUR DEBT
So how do you visualize a trillion? Creative people are coming up with new and better ways all the time. According to the MegaPenny Project, a cube of one trillion pennies stacked together would be 273 feet tall, somewhere between the height of the Washington Monument and the Empire State Building.
Here are our five favorite ways to put this colossal number into context.
1) A Trillion Seconds Worth of Distance Run
Can you guess how many days it takes for a trillion seconds to pass? If you said, "Let me go get my calculator," you're on the right track. I'll give you a hint: Each 24-hour day is worth 86,400 seconds. That's a huge number! But it's no where near a trillion.
- A million seconds is 13 days.
- A billion seconds is 31 years.
- A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
2) Astronomically Large
Outside on a clear night, you can see about two thousand stars with the naked eye, according to the astronomy site A Bright Spot Opposite the Sun. With $1 trillion, you could buy all of those stars if each cost $500 million.
3) Oh the Places They Will Go
A brand new Porsche 911 is a pretty luxurious purchase. Only the truly wealthy can afford to plunk down $88,800 on a car that fits two people and a weekend bag. But with a trillion dollars, in addition to a diploma you could give a set of keys to every graduating high school student in the country -- for the next four years!
4) The 50 Richest People in the Room
Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the entire Walton family -- these are just a few of the names that top Forbes' annual report on the richest people in the world. Yet none of them will ever be worth a trillion dollars.
In fact, if you put the 50 richest billionaires in a room, their combined net worth would barely pass $1 trillion.
5) Not Even the Biggest Blue-Chips
Let's go back to how much purchasing power $1 trillion will give you. For that amount of money, you could buy every share of Apple, Inc (Nasdaq: AAPL) -- and still have more than $600 billion to spend buying up every share of…
- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) -- $229.92 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) -- $185.15 billion
- Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) -- $184.91 billion
A VERY IMPORTANT QUOTE FOR OUR DAY
"But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, 1789
Thursday, July 28, 2011
HOW HOT IS IT IN TEXAS?
....the birds have to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.
....the trees are whistling for the dogs.
....the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
....hot water comes from both taps.
....you can make sun tea instantly.
....you learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
....the temperature drops below 95 F (35 C) and you feel a little chilly.
....you discover that in July it only takes two fingers to steer your car.
....you discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.
....you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
....you break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 A.M.
....your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death"?
....you realize that asphalt has a liquid stage.
....the potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter.
....the cows are giving evaporated milk.
....farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs
NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL HOT
A FOUNDER'S QUOTE
"It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness." --James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1791
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
A FOUNDER'S QUOTE
"The Constitution ... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, 1819
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