What is a Trillion

By John

A trillion is ONE THOUSAND billion. There are only 14 to the edge of the universe.

A trillion dollars is not money in the bank - it is a DEBT we will owe to other countries/cultures who buy it in hopes that it will someday yield more for them. That money (chinese, euros, marks, pesos?) will be thrown up in the air, and on our hands and knees we pick it up off the ground and run out and buy electronic gadgets to stimulate the economy. But then, someday, so the tale goes, we have to pay. And most of us reading this won’t be around or are so old we just watch colorized reruns of Lawrence Welk from a bed. So someone else gets to worry about it.

You could go to the moon and back 2,000,000 times - in miles - to equal a trillion.

Do you think it’s possible or impossible to print a trillion dollars given that said by Senator Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) - which is not disputed: "If you started the day Jesus Christ was born and spent $1 million every day since then, you still wouldn't spend it up to today.”

So this Trillion Dollar Stimulus must be some sort of word-of-mouth or hand shake or something written on a cocktail napkin and slid across a table in a smoky bar in some foreign country. Because we simply don't have it. But people act like it's a pile of gold the USA has to be converted to dollars and spent like a butterfly flutters frivolously about a glade. No. It does not exist. We have to borrow from foreign countries. And we are not going to be treated like foreign countries have been treated by us - where we just gave away and gave away and gave away until we were exhausted. And then we forgive the debt. The countries we borrow from will want their money back plus interest. They will want their pound of flesh. These are not nice people we are going to be borrowing from as you know. They may take the pound of flesh.

Back in our own country, I’m sure that, like all “projects” everything doubles and triples in cost by the time we're done so when the government asks for so-and-so dollars years from now and your kin were willing and able to help pay it with wallet open and hand poised on those bills, don’t be surprised if a son or daughter says, “Yer kidding?" And they break out in a cold sweat.

So lets get back to earth. I am only writing because I have time to research things - many people are out there making a living and trying to make sense of this stimulus issue and raise kids at the same time. I pull weeds all day long, try to kill gophers nicely so PETA does show up at the door. I have a BS in geology, a Masters in Engineering Management and am one class shy of a Masters in Public Administration. I pull weeds and paint over graffiti. Its sane - and insane. And we have no hidden agendas as we certainly would not be writing about arguable things such as this. So stay sane and be safe. I'm going to take a class making chocolates I think.