There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
- Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel Laureate
Since Feynman died in 1988, this is clearly not a recent quote. And it wouldn't have been true in the latter part of the Clinton administration, when we were actually RUNNING A SURPLUS.
But, thanks to the present administration and the big mistake in Iraq our numbers are back in the astronomical range.
So how big is the national deficit? This was actually harder to find than I expected it to be. According to the Administration it's approximately $163 billion. But according to this site, that doesn't take into account the money we're "borrowing" from Social Security. With that added, it's more like $600 billion.
What about the national debt (i.e., the cumulative total of our deficits)? $9 trillion and counting. So approximately the number of stars in 90 galaxies...
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The Sagacious Empathy
1 week ago
8 comments:
The dollar is tanking too!
As our trip to Montreal approaches I have been keeping an eye on it versus the Canadian dollar.
One Canadian dollar is now .947 US cents.
In May 2004 is was $1.39 US to $1 Canadian.
When I visited Ottawa in 2001 it was over $1.50 US to $1 Canadian.
One good thing is the low value of the dollar will have overseas companies looking to do business here.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES!
Ever since 2004 the US dollar has taken a S$@T.
The good thing is history will repeat itself and Boston will go dormant for 86 years after 2018. At this point the US dollar should recover nicely.
Keith Keith keith,The Sox have a different owner who will not be selling their best players to raise money for No No Nanette!
The Sox are for real and they will be the 21st Century's version of the Yankees.
The only thing Yankees fans will have to talk about is the good old days back in the last century.
Hank S will make sure of it,he's a bigger idiot then his father(and that's saying something)
I had a great time with you and your lovely wife,give her a hug for me
Thom
For those of you reading these comments, here is a quick reminder. The original post was about the deficit not baseball.
There's probably a lesson here. These numbers are so incomprehensibly large that our brains seek a diversion rather than contemplate such a dire predicament. It's like Zaphod's Peril Sensitive Sunglasses....
I agree with the diversion thought.
It is a shame not enough people truly care to change things until there is a crisis.
Don't forget that Bush cut taxes on the wealthy twice in his early years. The tax cuts were worth $1.6 trillion over 10 years, I think, and half of that, $800 billion, accrued to just the top 1 percent.
Raise taxes on the rich and suddenly the deficit starts going away.
It is true that the deficit is out of control. Neither the Dems or Repubs are interested in fixing the deficit. There is no votes,power or political patronage in it.
We are a bunch of weenies that want to blame everything on everyone else.
No one wants to be the castor oil dispenser.
We have the government that we deserve.
The question is....how can we fix it?
Truth is it's only money.
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