What time is it? USA Debt Clock

[1LIFE2LIVE]

http://usdebtclock.org

[Mike]

Lord . . . I got queasy just watching it for a few seconds.

[T.M. Roe]

One trillion dollars;

A stack of $100 bills approximately 670 MILES tall.

Now back to your regular programing.

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

One trillion dollars;

A stack of $100 bills approximately 670 MILES tall.

 

One trillion truly is a big number. 670 miles seems ridiculous when you hear it, but I just measured up a pair of bills; 0.004" thick each.

 

1,000,000,000,000 divided by 100 equals 10,000,000,000 $100 bills.

 

10,000,000,000 $100 bills, times 0.004" each, is 40,000,000 inches.

 

40,000,000 inches is 3,333,333 feet.

 

3,333,333 feet is 631 miles, which is pretty darn close to your 670 mile figure. (I must have slightly thinner-than-average bills in my wallet; perhaps I need to lose weight.)

 

 

[upflying]

I am depressed now...especially the ratio of income tax payers compared to total US population.

Only 109 million people pay income taxes? What do the other 199 million people pay?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I am depressed now...especially the ratio of income tax payers compared to total US population.

Only 109 million people pay income taxes? What do the other 199 million people pay?

 

There are a significant number of stay-at-home moms (and a few dads, I suppose), and a whole lot of minors who don't work at McDonald's. A bunch of retired folks, too.

 

There are also those folks who work, but don't earn enough money to pay income tax.

[randy]

one more stat, the average household income, in the US is around 48K. So basically the average household would take almost 3 years, (with no money to keep for themselves) to pay off our debt. think about it, when was the last time most of us NET SAVED, say more than 10K in a year. Now you are looking at close to 12 years to pay off the debt. And I believe last year the average NET SAVINGS was around 1.5K per household. So with that number, around 80 years for every household to pay off our debt. Our children are really in trouble.

[T.M. Roe]

Sorry for being SO far off Mitch. That's why I said approximately. I knew I would get an argument over my exaggerated claim. I do believe by the way that your bill was a bit worn and also a small difference in your measurement makes a big difference in the total. The point was that a trillion is an almost unfathomable amount of money and with the exponential growth curve turning up into that famous hockey stick we can pretty much stick a fork in this monetary system.

FYI some sources have the total derivatives market hovering near 1 quadrillion US dollars.

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Sorry for being SO far off Mitch. That's why I said approximately. I knew I would get an argument over my exaggerated claim.

:confused:

 

No argument here. When engineers try to match theory with reality, they're generally happy if the results are within plus-or-minus 10%. For the sake of discussion here, 631 miles ~= 670 miles.

 

FWIW, my dial caliper measures to the nearest thousandth of an inch. If I'd been able to measure my bills to 0.0042" instead of 0.004", I would have hit the 670-mile mark. Next time I'll use a micrometer (good to 0.0001").

[SageRider]

FWIW, my dial caliper measures to the nearest thousandth of an inch. If I'd been able to measure my bills to 0.0042" instead of 0.004", I would have hit the 670-mile mark. Next time I'll use a micrometer (good to 0.0001").

Nothing worse than sloppy work...

[Hermes]

One trillion dollars;

A stack of $100 bills approximately 670 MILES tall.

 

One trillion truly is a big number. 670 miles seems ridiculous when you hear it, but I just measured up a pair of bills; 0.004" thick each.

 

1,000,000,000,000 divided by 100 equals 10,000,000,000 $100 bills.

 

10,000,000,000 $100 bills, times 0.004" each, is 40,000,000 inches.

 

40,000,000 inches is 3,333,333 feet.

 

3,333,333 feet is 631 miles, which is pretty darn close to your 670 mile figure. (I must have slightly thinner-than-average bills in my wallet; perhaps I need to lose weight.)

 

 

Mitch, you guys get a much more blended average if you grab and measure a stack of, say, 500 $100 bills you got kickin around, and then follow with the appropriate calculation.

[EddyQ]

Mitch, you guys get a much more blended average if you grab and measure a stack of, say, 500 $100 bills you got kickin around, and then follow with the appropriate calculation.

 

Yup. I got the number right here 2.174"

[russell_bynum]

Sorry for being SO far off Mitch. That's why I said approximately. I knew I would get an argument over my exaggerated claim.

:confused:

 

No argument here. When engineers try to match theory with reality, they're generally happy if the results are within plus-or-minus 10%. For the sake of discussion here, 631 miles ~= 670 miles.

 

FWIW, my dial caliper measures to the nearest thousandth of an inch. If I'd been able to measure my bills to 0.0042" instead of 0.004", I would have hit the 670-mile mark. Next time I'll use a micrometer (good to 0.0001").

 

Typical government worker.

 

 

[beemerman2k]

How unique is our country in this respect? Obviously Greece can relate with us, but how about other western nations? Are they in serious debt, too? European countries? South American? Canadian?

 

How about India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Russia?

 

I guess I am trying to get a sense of how much trouble we're in. If the vast majority of the globe is deep in red ink, that's one thing. If we pretty much stand alone, then we're in deep doo-doo.

 

How deep? Oh, about 670 miles deep

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

No argument here. When engineers try to match theory with reality, they're generally happy if the results are within plus-or-minus 10%. For the sake of discussion here, 631 miles ~= 670 miles.

 

FWIW, my dial caliper measures to the nearest thousandth of an inch. If I'd been able to measure my bills to 0.0042" instead of 0.004", I would have hit the 670-mile mark. Next time I'll use a micrometer (good to 0.0001").

 

Typical government worker.

 

 

Hey, if you'd just pay more in taxes, I'd have more hundred-dollar bills to put together to get a good average thickness, just like Jurgen was suggesting.

[T.M. Roe]

It's not 670 miles deep that is only 1 trillion. We are 12.5 trillion in debt so its more like 8375 miles deep and don't get me started on unfunded liabilities.

Go ahead and start blaming the cause of the day. Today is Tuesday that must be Union's day, no wait, that's Monday, I think today is Democrat's no wait its Republicans, or is it the speculaters?

Its like we are in a car heading for a brick wall at 100 miles an hour and we are arguing over where to sit.

I'll plant a garden and get to know my neighbors.

[elkroeger]

I wonder if I can just pay my share NOW and then opt out.

[elkroeger]

I guess I am trying to get a sense of how much trouble we're in.

 

Watch The Ascent of Money. There are several episodes. You may need a tissue. YMMV.

[beemerman2k]

It's not 670 miles deep that is only 1 trillion...

 

I missed that somehow. I thought we were "only" in 670 miles deep. O M G :eek:

 

But again, how unique is our national endebtedness with respect to other world powers out there?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

But again, how unique is our national endebtedness with respect to other world powers out there?

 

here's a snapshot.

 

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Another snapshot, of just the Americas.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

 

[beemerman2k]

Not that unique, then. When external debt is measured against GDP, we're bad, but no where near the worse out there.

 

Look at Luxembourg; I hope we don't hold their debt, or we're worse off than this chart might suggest!

 

US - 94%

Luxembourg - 4,973.68%

 

[Selden]

How unique is our country in this respect? Obviously Greece can relate with us, but how about other western nations? Are they in serious debt, too? European countries? South American? Canadian?

 

How about India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Russia?

Government debt as a % of GDP is probably the most useful measure; among industrialized countries, Italy (over 100%) and Japan (over 200%) are higher than the US; France, Germany, UK are similar, and Australia, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa are very low.

 

 

[Boone60]

Sad to think about considering only 10 years ago that clock was running backwards off a much smaller total.

[T.M. Roe]

You guys are not seeing the forest for the trees.

How is money created?

It is borrowed into existence, the principle that is, not the interest.

There MUST be continual growth or the interest cannot be paid.

Once contraction starts the house of cards collapses fast, add to this the fractional reserve banking system and a dash of leverage and you have yourself one hell of a mess.

[T.M. Roe]

BTW only about 3% of our (US) "money" is in paper and coin, the rest is digital.

[upflying]

But there is not enough growth to pay the interest. Only way to pay down the debt is to make money worth less. Sounds like inflation is on the horizon.

[John Ranalletta]

But there is not enough growth to pay the interest. Only way to pay down the debt is to make money worth less. Sounds like inflation is on the horizon.

Not unless and until we experience a super nova of debt deflation.

the menu for the next 5 years: Hyperdeflation followed by rampant inflation, with a smattering of stagflation thrown in for good measure. Served chilled. Enjoy.

Look around. All the "stuff" you own will be worth less, way less in the next few years than what's it's worth today. If you're thinking about selling your house, sell it yesterday. The national "drag your crap to the curb" flea market will continue unabated.

 

Paradoxically, the best investment might be long term government debt.

 

Buy the clock!

[1LIFE2LIVE]

http://usdebtclock.org

 

The 1.4 million Bankruptcies & 858,000 Foreclosures just in the 1st 2 1/2 months YTD is sobering to say the least.

 

80+ million on Food Stamps; $108 Trillion in "Unfunded Liabilities" (Social Security, Medicaid, Prescription Drug Plan) adds to the total & it looks like the New Health Care will pad the deficit a bit more and pass without even a vote.

 

On a positive note: The stock market hit a new high today & It's sunny and almost 60 degrees here in Michigan = we're gonna go for a little ride on our RT and tune this out for a little while.

 

Peace,

[Green RT]

Notice that personal debt is even greater than the government debt. $!6.5 trillion vs $12.5 trillion.

[hANNAbONE]

Its like we are in a car heading for a brick wall at 100 miles an hour and we are arguing over where to sit.

I'll plant a garden and get to know my neighbors.

 

...sMARTEST gUY hERE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

(*helllllllllllllllllllllllo Tommy..!!*)

[John Ranalletta]

Your car crash analogy makes sense, but as a passenger, I can choose to jump in the back seat or put my face against the windshield for a better view; and that's just what investors in paper assets ("my assets are somebody else's liabilities") are doing.

[T.M. Roe]

Hannabone, my Brother, the problem with your statement is that my goal is to always be the dumbest guy in the room.....

[Spyder]

On a related note to put 1 Trillion in perspective--

If you saved $100,000 a year, it would take 10 million years to reach $1 Trillion

[Albert]

I know I'm going to sound like Larry the Cable Guy here but that thing looks like a "clock" the way a Lexus SC10 looks like a toaster.