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What Does $17 Trillion Of Federal Debt Look Like?
Guess what? Its debt ceiling season again! The federal government is (yet again…sigh…) fast approaching the October deadline when the Treasury Department runs out of borrowing power. Not surprisingly, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew asked Congress to raise the debt limit when it returns from its summer recess, and, once again, Speaker John Boehner is demanding that for every dollar increase in the nation’s debt ceiling there should be a dollar in spending cuts. Of course, he has never stood firm on that demand, as he has continually allowed the debt ceiling to be raised. In all likelihood the debt limit will be raised for a short period of time and very few, if any, concessions will be made.
The constant conflict over Federal spending and debt levels has left many desensitized to it all. To many Americans, the approaching $17 trillion of debt may seem so incomprehensible that it appears to be just another number. Back in 1981, the national debt was only about $1 trillion, yet Reagan still tried to put it all in perspective. He said, “I’ve been trying ever since to think of a way to illustrate how big a trillion really is. And the best I could come up with is that if you had a stack of thousand-dollar bills in your hand only 4 inches high, you’d be a millionaire. A trillion dollars would be a stack of thousand-dollar bills 67 miles high.” Multiply that by 17 and you get 1,139 miles high, which is about the altitude that military and spy satellites hover.
However, this illustration may not connect clearly with every one, so I thought it would be a great idea to point out multiple ways to construct $17 trillion in celebration (or mourning) of the upcoming and momentous debt ceiling increase.
To Saturn and back
Ever wanted to travel into space, maybe see the rings of Saturn? Well, you could try walking on a one layer, one row road of one dollar bills. One bill is 6.14 inches wide. So, if you lined up 17 trillion of them lengthways, you could reach Saturn and come back to Earth (1.66 billion miles).
$17 trillion of debt would stretch to Saturn and back to Earth
Around the world in 66,663 trips
17 trillion dollar bills lengthways would circle the Earth 66,663 times.
Don’t like zero gravity? Try circumnavigating the world instead. Lining up 17 trillion dollar bills lengthways would circle the Earth (24,901 miles) 66,663 times.
Instead of grass, plant greenbacks
$17 trillion of debt would cover 66,810 square miles of land or the entire states of Virginia and West Virginia.
Some people just don’t like grass. They use dirt or gravel or weeds instead. Here’s an alternative: Use the Federal debt to cover your lawn (and a few other’s lawns). In fact, you could sod 66,810 square miles of land with the Federal debt. This would be the equivalent of sodding the entire states of Virginia and West Virginia. It would make mowing a thing of the past.
You need lots of storage
$17 trillion would fill the Boeing Everett Factory 1 1/2 times over
If you had to store all of the Federal debt in one location, you wouldn’t find a big enough building. $17 trillion of one dollar bills would need 678 million cubic feet of storage. The largest building in the world is the Boeing Everett Factory in the state of Washington, and, at a mere 472 million cubic feet, you would need to build something 1 ½ times that size just to fit all of the money. That would be a pretty hefty monthly bill for storage.
Take a magazine and a roll of cash to the bathroom
$17 trillion of debt would supply world toilet paper demands with two-ply of dollars for 73 days.
Finally, if you feel like toilet paper isn’t good enough to clean up your bum, try the Federal debt. Since the average toilet paper roll is 302 feet long, $17 trillion worth of two-ply, one dollar bills (2.61 inches wide) would make 6.12 billion toilet paper rolls. Considering that 83 million rolls of toilet paper are produced every day, you could supply world toilet paper demands with two-ply Federal dollars for 73 days. If you prefer breaking Benjamins ($100 bill), then it would take about a week for the world to wipe it all.
Hopefully, these illustrations will give you some idea of how much debt our government owes. The term “up to our eyeballs” falls just a little short.
Why don’t you give it a try and tell us below how you would bring $17 trillion to life?
http://www.hardhatters.com/2013/08/17-trillion-federal-debt-look-like/
