November 22, 2011
Just How Much Is 15 Trillion?
The United States national debt clock recently ticked up over 15 trillion. Everybody knows a trillion is a lot of money, but it's much more than you probably think. A trillion is a number so large that the human mind cannot grasp it. Fifteen trillion, of course, is fifteen times more than that. It is unimaginably large. Even our vocabulary cannot describe it. Some people describe it as a mountain of debt. Let's start there. The tallest mountain in the world is Mount Everest, at just over 29,000 feet. If you stacked up the $15-trillion debt in a big stack, would it be as tall as Mt. Everest? Yes. Everest is only about $81 million tall. The U.S. government spends that much every eleven minutes or so. To get 15 trillion, you'd need well over 185 thousand stacks as tall as Mt. Everest. A single stack of $15 trillion would go well past the moon. Everest wouldn't even be a pebble. You could say we...(Read Full Article)