$13 trillion (the amount of U.S. debt) is a lot, right? But just how much is "a lot?" It's easy to underestimate such an exorbitant sum when you start to ask yourself how far it can actually go. In case you're more of a visual person (I know I am!), SmartMoney does a great job of breaking it down for you.
Writer Sarah Morgan says it's impossible to know what a dollar would be worth five million years from now, but here are some things $13 trillion could buy today:
- An iPhone for every person on the plant. I reiterate: planet;
- Tesla Roadsters for 128 million people (they each cost $101,500);
- Four years of Yale tuition, at a rate of $190,000, for 68 million kids;
- An item off the McDonald's dollar menu for each U.S. citizen every day for the next 115 years;
- A new home for 65 million familes if the median home price remains at $198,400;
- Eleven first class plane tickets to Rio de Janeiro for the entire U.S. population;
- A movie ticket for each U.S. citizen every day for 14 years;
- 10 years of around-the-clock-on-call medical care for 928 million people; and, finally
- BP said Monday the cost of the oil spill has already reached $1.25 billion. Even if that number rises to $40 billion, the amount of our debt could pay the whole tab 326 times over.
Does this paint a picture for you? Can you better see how careless Congress has been with YOUR money? I'd suggest printing out this article and showing it to each of your Representatives and Senators. Maybe, then, they'd start to get the message.