How much is one trillion dollars?

A co-worker and I today figured out that if a person had one trillion dollars (hypothetically, of course), and they decided to give it away to someone, but give it to them one dollar at a time, taking about one second per time, and sleeping 8 hours a day (because you gotta have your sleep), then it would take that person between 47,000 to 48,000 years to give away all that money.

But I think the average person only lives to be seventy-something so maybe that wouldn't work out?

More facts for you (from www.letfreedomringusa.com):

"A stack of one trillion one-dollar bills would reach 68,000 miles in space. If you spent $1 million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born until now, you would only have spent about three quarters of a trillion.


If you laid one trillion one-dollar bills end to end, it would make a chain from the earth to the moon 200 times. One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, four years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills. A million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. A trillion seconds is 32,000 years.


Record Spending In The Budget: The budget increases spending to $3.9 trillion in 2009, or 27% of GDP – the highest level since World War II.

Historically High Deficits For The Next Ten Years: the budget promises historically high deficits stretching out until 2019, when the budget deficit will stand at $712 billion.

A Record Deficit In 2009: The budget would produce a $1.75 trillion deficit, or 12.3percent of GDP, in 2009. This deficit level is more than three times the previous record deficit.

$24 Billion Spent A Day: Over the first fifty days of the new Administration, approximately $24 billon has been spent a day, most of it with borrowed money.

Doubling The National Debt Over The Next Eight Years: The budget doubles the national debt over the next eight years."

Okay, so when are we spending too much? Is there really a limit? Why can't we just spend a zillion dollars? We're the richest (supposedly) freaking country in the world. There's a problem with that however- the Federal Reserve knows it is taking a huge risk because any time you print money, you have to back it up with something of value. The problem now is that the value of all of our goods and services is currently going down and is not projected to go up any time soon. The gamble is spending all this money to get these goods and services to go back up in value.

But what if they don't.

In addition, we are borrowing billions from China (not to mention countless other countries). What if they decide to stop loaning us money? Who says China will need us much longer when their economy is caught up with ours?

News flash: China's economy expanded by 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009. That's right. While our economy is shrinking, their's is expanding.

Jake Russell Band - "Turning to Dandelions"

The Jake Russell Band is weird, and I think they are darn proud of that fact. On their latest, Turning to Dandelions, they seem to be at their most weirdest yet. There are no boundaries on this album. One song, the epic title track, goes on for over 16 minutes, but it's hypnotic enough that you barely notice this fact. What drives the band is Jake Russell's voice. He sings out of tune often on purpose, but he does so in such a warm and charming way. He's like a quirkier Stephen Malkmus. The arrangements are often soft and acoustic-based, and Josh Koleszar's guitar and accordion playing that compliment the arrangements often offer more beautiful and unique melodies than anything Pavement ever did. My favorite track by far is "Candide’s Blue Period," a great indie pop tune with minimalist drums that fit the mood of the song just right. I wish all of the tracks had drums, but unfortunately only some of them do. Another strength of the album is Jake's lyrics, which are conversational, insightful, and just plain refreshing compared to most bands out their today. Overall, it's safe to say that there is no band out there that sounds like the Jake Russell Band. They are doing their own thing, and while sometimes their music might be slightly hard to digest, you absolutely have to admire what they are doing.

Almost done

The semester of madness is almost over. One more month.