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OK, So Maybe I was Wrong

February 28th, 2009 Jim Callihan

Well, sort of.

In my earlier posting regarding the $787 billion stimulus package – and the nearly $5,000 per second in spending it represents when spread over 5 years – I had suggested that it was a bit ludicrous to imagine spending that huge amount in the span of 30 days.

As it turns out, it may not be such a wildly bizarre notion after all.

Following my usual routine this morning I grabbed my cup of coffee and began my leisurely scan of several internet news services. Prominent among all the headlines was one announcing President Obama’s proposed $3.55 trillion budget for 2010.

As huge numbers go that one is REALLY impressive, and, I’m afraid, all the more incomprehensible. Afterall, it equates to having 3,550 stacks of one billion dollars. To me, three thousand stacks of anything is probably a few stacks too many – but stacks of $1 billion? All, I might add, budgeted to be spent in a single year.

So I got to wondering. Read more »

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It’s Not So Much, Really

February 16th, 2009 Jim Callihan

All too often these days it seems we’re confronted with numbers that seem, well, a tad incomprehensible. At least for me. As hard as I try I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around a “stimulus package” valued at around 790 billion dollars. Seems I get only far enough to conclude that it’s a really, really huge amount. Even when I break it into smaller pieces it still seems intellectually overwhelming. Afterall, a mere one percent totals about $8 billion, and that, I’m afraid, still stretches my imagination beyond its limits. Only when I get to a fraction as small as one-tenth of one percent does a dollar figure I can comprehend appear – a mere $79,000; but then when I try to imagine one-tenth of one percent I find I’m pretty much where I started, dealing with numbers that are either too large, or now too small, to be meaningful. Read more »

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