How Much Is A Trillion? : What Is A Trillion In Political Terms? Related Content Elsewhere on the Web Politicians -- at the state and federal level -- talk in numbers that most folks can't visualize. So how much is a trillion? What does it mean to say that something costs a trillion dollars? First, we have to clarify that we're using the US system of numbers (short scale), not the British system (long scale).
Most of the time, if we're talking about the things relating to the US political system, we are using the US sytem. The chart, however accurate, doesn't put the number -- one thousand billion -- into perspective. A million seconds is 11.5 days. How Much Is One Trillion Dollars? Chart: Who Does the U.S. Gov’t Owe $17 Trillion To? The U.S. government owes a lot of money. A lot. In fact, U.S. debt today stands at about $17 trillion. Obviously, that’s a little difficult to understand with just words. So here to help you visualize the debt situation in the U.S. — and help you understand where money is owed — is a helpful chart from National Public Radio: Here are some key takeaways [as presented by Business Insider]: We owe most of the money to ourselves.We owe a big chunk of the money — about $6 trillion — to the Federal government.
Click here to read the full NRP article on the U.S.’ debt load. Here's why Congress will blink on the debt ceiling. Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters President Obama shouldn’t let the United States default on the debt, even if this means defying Congress and disregarding the debt limit. However, he shouldn’t, and can’t, stop the government shutdown. Barring a compromise with House Republicans, the government closes Tuesday. The showdown over the debt ceiling will come in mid-October. The implications of the threats, as well as the timing, are different. Whatever he does, the impact will be large and immediate. By contrast, a government shutdown—actually only a partial government shutdown, since essential services will continue—would not cause great hardship in the short term (although the stopping and restarting of programs would waste money). Because the crackup from failing to raise the debt ceiling would be so huge, the president could afford to defy congressional Republicans.
As I have argued before, the president has the constitutional authority to lift the debt ceiling on his own. Treasury Puts a Date on When Cash May Run Out - Oct. 17. History lesson: Why is there a national debt limit? (Jay Mallin/Bloomberg) This column has been updated Now that the Treasury Department has nixed the odd idea of issuing a platinum coin to get around the federal debt limit, Congress once again will be forced to decide whether to raise the debt limit. When this issue last loomed in 2011, we looked deeply at the question of whether the United States had ever defaulted before. (Answer: It is not entirely unprecedented. There are three instances when the United States could be seen to have defaulted on its obligations — in 1790, in 1933 and in 1971.) The debt limit covers both publicly-held debt and debts the United States owes to itself (bonds to Social Security and Medicare for future obligations) so no matter what happens, the debt limit will have to be raised, one way or the other.
But for readers who have been wondering, here’s a history lesson on why the United States has a debt limit in the first place. It started with a war. Hmm, that sounds familiar. (About our rating scale) Q. and A. on the U.S. Debt Ceiling. Federal Debt Ceiling (National Debt) Web of Debt - How Banks And The Federal Reserve Are Bankrupting The Planet... One giant debt for mankind: U.S. national deficit would reach almost to the moon if piled high in 5 dollar bills.
The national debt is at its highest since the end of the second world warThe figure equates to every man, woman and child owing $55,091 eachOf the $5.1 trillion owned by foreign governments - nearly half is owned by China and JapanThe national debt has increased more than $6 trillion since President Obama took office - the largest increase under any president By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 22:37 GMT, 26 July 2013 The country’s national debt is now so high, over $16.7 trillion, that if the figure was converted into $5 bills it would stretch almost to the moon. According to the latest available data from the U.S. Treasury, the total public debt outstanding is $16,738,105,803,858.21, while the distance between the earth and the moon is 238,857 miles. Since President Obama took office the figure has increased by more than $6 trillion, the largest increase to date under any U.S. president. During the eight-year presidency of George W.
Source: CNSNews.com.