BBC News reports that the National Debt Clock in New York has been overrun by Bush economics.
The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.
The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.
The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.
The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.
The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.
A "quadrillion" dollars of debt? But relax, it's not a British quadrillion, which is a 1 followed by 24 zeroes, but merely an American quadrillion which is 1 followed by just 15 zeroes:
As in: $1,000,000,000,000,000.
Who cares? That's too many zeroes to fit onto a cheque anyway.
You know, I got to thinking about $1 trillion the other day. So, I did the calculation and learned that one trillion seconds is about 31 000 years. A good way, I think, of expressing the scale.
ReplyDelete$1 quadrillion seconds is 31.5 million years.
Yeesh.
Hey Ed. Do you think there's any chance we could evolve into an intelligent lifeform in just 31.5 million years?
ReplyDeleteMOS Gawd.....I'd like to think some of us are already an intelligent lifeform or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Morris
ReplyDeleteAh, Morris. I think we'd like to believe we were already there but I think we're just a thin and brittle veneer to what that actually looks like.
ReplyDeleteApparently we're the top of the food chain of the latest iteration of life on earth after two previous, near total extinctions. This time we may be the force driving the extinction. I think we might somehow be a lot better off if our IQ was about twice or better than what it actually is today.
"Elitism" hell yes! As long as we're confronted with existential threats, I want the elites - the best, smartest, most knowledgeable and intelligent people we can get to run this show. We need people who can handle the moment while preserving what we are as Canadians.
p.s. That ISN'T Stephen Harper!