…In our current environment it is important to understand what “a trillion” means. Otherwise, how does one make sense of what they are hearing, reading or seeing [and I get the impression that many] business owners, advisors to business owners, and financial market participants are unable to put “a trillion” in context [other than being] a humongous number. The comparisons set out in this article may help one to better understand “a trillion”…
Here are some comparisons that may help you put “a trillion” in context:
- At today’s average U.S. house price $1 trillion would buy about 5 million “average priced” U.S. houses.
- The average U.S. new car/truck price in April 2016 was $33,500. With $1 trillion you could have bought about 30 million “averaged priced” new cars and trucks in the U.S. last month.
- Travel a trillion miles, and take a return trip to our moon over 2 million times.
- To travel a trillion miles you would have to circumnavigate our planet about 40 million times.
- Pay $10 for a meal at a fast food restaurant. Then buy 100,000 million more identical meals.
- The current U.S. population is about 320 million. 320 million is about 3/100ths of 1% of a trillion…
The next time you hear the word “trillion” used in relation to government debt, the financial markets or the latest corporate takeover price take a step back…[and] think again about…the humongous numbers that are being bandied about without context.
Disclosure: The original article, by Ian R. Campbell was edited ([ ]) and abridged (…) by the editorial team at ,munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!) to provide a fast and easy read.
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