Thursday, February 12, 2009

Tonight on Good Question

Over the past few months, we have heard so much about the economic stimulus. Numbers like $800 billion, $900 billion even a trillion dollars have been tossed around by politicians and the media.

A viewer wants to know, “Just exactly how much money is a trillion dollars? I can’t imagine that amount of cash.” Good question.

A trillion dollars. The latest version of the economic stimulus bill is only a few hundred billion away from a trillion.

An article on cnn.com by Christine Romans has some amazing facts about a trillion dollars.

One trillion is equal to 1,000 billion. If you were writing it on a check, you would put 12 zeroes after the one.

According to the article, one trillion in one dollar bills would reach 68,000 miles into the sky, or one-third of the way to the moon. If you lived one trillion seconds, you would be 32,000 years old.

The most interesting fact came from John Allen Paulos, a math professor at Temple University. He says if you spend a million dollars a day, if would take you well over 2,000 years to spend a trillion dollars.

Send your good questions to news@kake.com