bcx@well.UUCP (Bryan Costales) (08/05/85)
In the past 6 years the United States has spent over one trillion dollars on defense. Unfortunately, the average person has little concept of how large an ammount of money that really is. To illustrate how big a trillion really is, let me ask you some questions: 1. If a doctor told you that you only had a trillion seconds left to live, how long do you suppose that would be? 2. If a cubic inch of sand contains say 100 grains along each edge, for 1000000 grains total, how much space would a trillion grains occupy? 3. If you had a trillion dollars to spend the day Christ was born, and managed to spend $1,000,000.00 a day from then till now, how much would you have left? Remember that a trillion is a million million. And we spend a trillion dollars on "defense" in just 6 years! -- How much would it cost to pay $1,000.00 to each and every man, woman and child in the Soviet Union? -- Bryan Costales ( ...!dual!ptsfa!ski!eeg!bcx ...!ptsfa!well!bcx)
gdvsmit@watrose.UUCP (Riel Smit) (08/06/85)
In article <126@well.UUCP> bcx@well.UUCP (Bryan Costales) writes: > >Remember that a trillion is a million million. mmmm... in America yes, in most other places a million million is but a billion (bi-million?) -- which of course does not negate your questions.
dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) (08/08/85)
In article <126@well.UUCP> bcx@well.UUCP (Bryan Costales) writes: >In the past 6 years the United States has spent over one trillion dollars >on defense. Unfortunately, the average person has little concept of how large >an ammount of money that really is. To illustrate how big a trillion really >is, let me ask you some questions: (questions omitted) A trillion dollars spent over 6 years, by a country of roughly 250 million people, amounts to about $700 per year per warm body, or $2800 per year for a family of 4. With defense spending increasing, because of inflation if for no other reason, the cost would have been less 6 years ago and would be more now... I'd guess about $900 per person this year. This is a lot easier to understand than questions about the size of a cube containing a trillion grains of sand, or how long a trillion seconds is. -- David Canzi "Adequacy -- is it enough?"
foy@aero.ARPA (Richard Foy ) (08/08/85)
In article <126@well.UUCP> bcx@well.UUCP (Bryan Costales) writes: > >an ammount of money that really is. To illustrate how big a trillion really > >on "defense" in just 6 years! -- How much would it cost to pay $1,000.00 to >each and every man, woman and child in the Soviet Union? > These sort of calculations always amaze me and make me wonder about our inability to see what we are doing. I wonder if it might be easier and perhaps just as productive if we spent about 0.1% of the defense budget to finance trips of private people carrying individual gifts to the Soviet people.
rcook@uiucuxc.Uiuc.ARPA (08/09/85)
If you are trying to get a point across, you should include your answers.
I'm sure alot of people will not worry about figuring out the answers and
just forget about it. Why don't you post the figures and let us all in on
how much the DoD REALLY spends.
Rob Cook
UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!rcook
'Life is just a cocktail party on the street'
-Mick Jagger- phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) (08/12/85)
A trillion dollars is a thousand dollars a year from every US citizen for
five years.
--
Yuck! This coke tastes different!
Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720
UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!phil
ARPA: amdcad!phil@decwrl.ARPAea@mtuxo.UUCP (e.arias) (08/14/85)
REFERENCES: <126@well.UUCP>, <104700001@uiucuxc> If someone were to give you $1,000 per second, and if the person gave you money at that rate for 24 hour a day, 365 days a year... Do you know how long it would take to give you 1 Trillion Dollars? The answer is inbeded in the middle line of the next paragraph. 1234567890aabbccddeeffgghhiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrsstt1234567890 9abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz32yearsabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9 1234567890aabbccddeeffgghhiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrsstt1234567890
tjs@cbdkc1.UUCP ( Tom Stanions) (08/15/85)
In article <338@aero.ARPA> foy@aero.UUCP (Richard Foy (Veh. Systems)) writes: >In article <126@well.UUCP> bcx@well.UUCP (Bryan Costales) writes: >>on "defense" in just 6 years! -- How much would it cost to pay $1,000.00 to >>each and every man, woman and child in the Soviet Union? > >I wonder if it might be easier and perhaps just as productive if we spent >about 0.1% of the defense budget to finance trips of private people carrying >individual gifts to the Soviet people. Do you think that the Russian people are "the ememy"? True they are programmed to dislike (hate?) us. The real enemy is the ruling class of people who have all the money they need. Matching wits and spending whatever it costs to keep abreast with this group of people seems to make a lot of sense. I'd hate to try it your way and find out you were wrong. {allegra|ihnp4}!cbdkc1!tjs
gupta@asgb.UUCP (Yogesh K Gupta) (08/15/85)
> A trillion dollars is a thousand dollars a year from every US citizen for > five years. > -- > > Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720 If it is interest free. -- Yogesh Gupta Advanced Systems Group, {sdcrdcf, sdcsvax}!bmcg!asgb!gupta Burroughs Corp., Boulder, CO. -------------------------------------------------------------------- All opinions contained in this message are my own and do not reflect those of my employer or the plant on my desk.
kinne@asgb.UUCP (Robert W Kinne) (08/15/85)
> > A trillion dollars is a thousand dollars a year from every US citizen for > > five years. > > -- > > > > Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720 > > If it is interest free. > -- > Yogesh Gupta Advanced Systems Group, In Great Britain or Germany, it would take five *million* years. (In the U. S., a trillion is 10 E12, in G.B. 10 E18.)