I've talked about The Law of Big Numbers before, but I really think people should understand the magnitude of what the government is talking about when they say Million, Billion and Trillion.
Recently, while speaking at Senator Johanns' Roundtable on Healthcare Reform, I brought this issue up again.
This is what I said:
The papers have abounded with big numbers. The bailout - $700 billion dollars, the deficit - $1.2 trillion dollars. Million, Billion, Trillion...The only difference between the words is one letter and sometimes people get those things confused. I think there should be a law of big numbers so people really understand the difference between a million, and a billion, and a trillion. Everett Dirksen once said, “a million here, a million there, pretty soon we’re talking big numbers.”
Being a math guy, I like to explain it like this:
If you were going to count to a Million, and you counted one count per second, it would take you a little bit over eleven and one half days of counting non-stop.
Now let's go to a Billion, mostly when I ask people this, they usually guess 100 days. Well actually, to count to a billion, would take you 31 years and 8 ½ months. Remember, a billion is a thousand millions.
Then we can talk about a Trillion. How long would it take to count to a trillion? Do the math. Again you move the decimal point but it would take you 31,709 years plus 8 months to count to a trillion.
Think about this the next time you hear a politician talk, or when you look at the deficit calculator.
Larry Kopsa CPA
