Putting Large Numbers into Perspective

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Disclaimer: I am not an economist nor have any formal training in economics. The only education I can lay claim to is one year of accounting in high school. Economists love their charts and can expound at length on the large numbers which often flies over the heads of the average person. I hope to bring some common sense perspective to the subject.

I decided to do this after discovering the lack of knowledge by people on this subject. I started asking people questions and was dismayed by the results.

ME: "Do you know what a deficit is?"

PERSON: "Um... what someone owes?"

ME: "No... that would be a debt."

PERSON: 'Um... I guess I don't know then..."

A deficit is the amount a person spends beyond their income. If a person earns $1000 a week but spends $1,200 a week then they have a weekly deficit of $200. When the government spends more than its revenue, then it has a deficit.

I was talking to a friend about the enormity of the debt and deficit and he informed me that it didn't matter because the numbers were to large to comprehend. They were meaningless to him. It didn't matter if they were one trillion or five billion. That's when I realized a needed a means to put the numbers into perspective.

One Trillion Dollars

A dollar bill is 6.14 inches long. One trillion dollars would stretch out to 6.14 trillion inches or 6,140,000,000,000 inches. To convert this to feet I would need to divide it by 12

🖩 6,140,000,000,000 ÷ 12 = 511666666666.666666667 feet (That's is over 511 billion feet.) Notice: I lighten the digits less than zero for easier reading

To convert the feet to miles I need to divide the number of feet by 5,280.

🖩511,666,666,666.666666667 ÷ 5,200 = 96906565.656565657 miles (That's is over 96 million miles)

According to Wikipedia, the sun is 92.96 million miles from the earth and it takes over eight minutes for sunlight to reach the earth. One trillion dollars easily exceeds that distance. Can you imagine trying to have that conversation regarding the deficit by radio with 96 million miles between the two radios?

I start the conversation with my question.

ME: "Do you know what a deficit is? - OVER"

⏱ Eight plus minutes later and the person hears my question sends his reply

PERSON: "Um... what someone owes? - OVER"

⏱ Sixteen plus minutes has elapsed and I hear the wrong answer. I send him clarification that he had 'deficit' mixed up with 'debt'.

ME: "No... that would be a debt. - OVER"

⏱ Twentyfour plus minutes later he learns of his mistake.

PERSON: 'Um... I guess I don't know then... - OVER"

⏱ Thirtytwo plus minutes later this reply reaches my radio but I had already walked out.

The Daily Deficit

I read that in 2019 the yearly deficit was 984 billion dollars. I did the math based on that figure to figure out the daily deficit and how to put that number into perspective.

🖩986,000,000,000 ÷ 365 = 2695890410.95890411 (Divided total by the number days in a year. Got almost 2.7 billion dollars per day.)

Then I multiplied the daily deficit with the length of a dollar bill. 🖩2,695,890,410.95890411 x 6.14 = 16552767123.287671233 (Got over 16 billion inches)

Then I divide the inches by 12 to get the number of feet.

🖩16552767123.287671233 ÷ 12 = 1379397260.273972603 (Got over a billion feet)

Finally I divide the billion plus feet with 5280 to get the number of miles.

🖩1379397260.273972603 ÷ 5280 = 261249.481112495 (That's over 261 thousand miles!)

According to Google the earth's circumference is 24,902 miles. so if I were to divide the 261 thousand by the earth's circumference I would get...

🖩261249.481112495 ÷ 24,902 = 10.491104374.

This means the money the U.S. government spent into the hole each day in 2019 could wrap around the earth over ten times!

The 747 vs the Daily Deficit

Another perspective is the 747 plane. According to Popular Mechanics, the top speed is 570 mph. If it was able to fly non-stop till it traveled the distance for a single day of deficit spending it would take....

First I need the distance a 747 can theoretically fly in a single day. I am going to multiply the top speed by 24 hours.

🖩 570 x 24 = 13,680 miles.

Then I will divide the 24 hour period of miles of deficit spending with the total theoretical miles a 747 can fly in a single day.

🖩 261249.481112495 ÷ 13,680 = 19.097184292 days

It would take over 19 days of non-stop flying for a 747 to travel from one end to the other of a single day's worth of deficit spending in 2019 by the federal government!

CONCLUSION: Our country's deficit spending exceeds the top speed of a 747 over 19 times!

As of Oct 15 2021, last time I edited this page, (repairing formatting after Google Sites Upgrade)the Debt Clock shows the US national debt stands at 28.8 trillion dollars.

To see the Debt Clock go to https://www.usdebtclock.org/#

I hope these examples will help put these large numbers into perspective.