Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Putting debt into physical perspective

After hearing frequent mentions of large amounts of money — a billion-dollar loan, a trillion-dollar debt, etc. — I undertook a small project to help me visualize these amounts and relate to them just as easily as I can to my meager bank account.

I learned from information obtained from various sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Imprinting, that all U.S. paper currency measures 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long with a thickness of 0.0043 inches. A bundle of crisp, new bills — 100 bills to a bundle — measures 2.61 by 6.14 by 0.43 inches, and occupies 6.89 cubic inches, or 0.004 cubic feet.

A million dollars, which would be 100 bundles of $100 bills, $10,000 per bundle, occupies approximately 0.4 cubic feet of space. A billion dollars would occupy 400 cubic feet, and a trillion dollars would occupy 400,000 cubic feet.

Although a million dollars may seem like a great deal of money to you or me, it doesn’t require much space to store this amount. You can visualize it by imagining placing 10 bundles of $100 bills — each bundle measuring 2.61 by 6.14 by 0.43 inches — on a table, and adding nine more layers to make it a total of 100 bundles. The stack would measure 13.05 by 12.28 by 4.3 inches, and could easily fit into a brief case or carry-on luggage.

A billion dollars in new currency could be stored in an area 10 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 5 feet high. A trillion dollars could be displayed on a football field, 300 by 160 feet, using the entire surface of the field, and stacking the bundles 8 feet, 4 inches high.

What did I gain from this project? Nothing, really, except that it makes my bank account seem even smaller.

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