The True Cost of a $100 Billion
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published February 19, 2007, 9:46 am in Economic Issues.
What can be done with $100 billion? I can honestly answer that I have no idea, for I cannot conceive that much money. It's just beyond me. If I work for 30 years making $50,000 a year, I will make $1.5 million. That's it. It doesn't take into account the money I put in savings and lose, I mean win, on the stock market, either. Take some big shot who makes $1 million a year, and he or she is grossing $3800 a day (with 260 working days a year). That's what I make in a month! That person will still only make $30 million over his or her lifetime. That's a heck of a lot of money, and there is no way that a person needs that much money to live comfortably and do whatever they want.
What's a Billion Here Or There?
But $100 billion? That's just inconceivable, as a character from The Princess Bride would say. A sector of the economy is said to be doing well, when it reaches $100 billion a year. It is growing to huge proportions then. The recording industry was worth $100 billion in 2006, for example. According to one study, the "green" energy market should reach $100 billion in a few years. Hewlett Packard should make $100 billion this year. Internet sales surpassed $100 billion this year, too.
It's really an incredible amount of money. Entire corporations and business sectors gross $100 billion.
Then there are the costs of $100 billion, as listed here. Each year, cancer costs about $100 billion, obesity costs about $100 billion, and cardiovascular disease costs about $100 billion. And the pharmaceutical industry is about $100 billion, too. And then $100 billion is lost and spent on healthcare fraud.
All educational activities on every level cost about $100 billion a year, according to Milton Friedman.
What is up with $100 billion? It's just so far out there that I can't comprehend it. That's what makes it so nerve-wracking. In fact, my calculator only goes up to $10 billion. Did you catch that?
MY CALCULATOR CANNOT COMPUTE $100 BILLION!
In order for me to make $100 billion, I would have to make--wait, let me calculate it manually--almost $274 million a day for 365 days a year! If I only work 260 days a year, it jumps to $385 million.
Let's calculate that as an hourly wage, shall we? If you work 10 hours a day, then that comes to $38 million an hour.
Wait, I think I only make about $25 an hour, and I know quite a few people who make considerably less. The minimum wage was $5.15 an hour until the new Congress decided to up it to $7.25? And 116 members of the House voted against it?
Does anyone deserve $38 million an hour? Or even $385 million a day? Does any corporation? Does anything, period? I have talked about income inequality before, but this $100 billion figure goes way beyond income inequality. If I have calculated it correctly, Vermont's GDP is only about $24 billion a year. In fact, 17 states have GDPs less than $100 billion.
Wow, that is crazy.
What is a Supplement, Anyway?
Why I am talking about $100 billion? Did I recently win the lottery? Did I discover that I am heir to Kansas? Have I recently married Saudi royalty?
No, but I read the news. And Bush is asking for $100 billion for the war in Iraq for 2007.
$100 billion for the war in Iraq.
Has that sunk in yet? And you know what it's called? A supplement.
I have to chuckle when I write it! A supplement? How can $100 billion ever be a supplement? A supplement is something added to complete something or make up for a deficiency. A vitamin is a supplement. A protein shake is a supplement. I add them to my body and they help to make up for a deficiency, but they don't sustain me.
A postscript is a supplement. But it isn't the entire letter.
I download a supplement for a computer program, but I still have to buy the program itself.
The encyclopedia sends me a yearbook supplement, but I don't get it without the original encyclopedia.
I supplement my education by reading and writing about politics.
I supplement my income by investing in real estate.
But none of these are the entire thing. They are supplements.
In my mind, $100 billion can never be considered a supplement.
Why do they use that language, then? Two reasons, I think.
Reason #1 is because it sounds good. If no one can really fathom $100 billion, then it sounds good to call it a supplement. Never mind that it funds the war effort for the entire year. It's still a supplement because it's part of an ongoing process. It helps to complete the whole war effort. We cannot diminish the fact that the normal American can never understand what $100 billion means, though. As I explained above, it's a figure that's just out of reach because we will NEVER see that much money. Calling it a supplement is part of a rhetorical strategy, then, to make it seem a lot less than it is.
Reason #2 is practical. The $100 billion is not a part of the overall budget for the year. That's the way the administration has been funding this war since the beginning. They can call it a supplement and then not have to give a strict accounting for it. Congress must pass it on its own, yes, but it's still not officially a part of our national budget. Nope, it's a supplement.
I'm not going to talk about Murtha's plan to add provisions to the supplement just yet. We'll wait and see about that one. Just keep in mind that every time you hear the phrase $100 billion, they're working on you.
And it works.
Comments & Trackbacks
By JT
February 20, 2007, 1:00 pm. PermaLink
hey chad, if you want to know how much $100 billion is, just ask me. i am so familiar with the workings of mega cash. so, i will tell you.
my apartment is paved
with hope diamonds
like the blogosphere
with its political blogs
when you read the Good Book in the evenings
are you still a NRSV guy
or have you jumped the old-school fence
to K! J! V!
happy fat tuesday
from MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA!
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