Here is a fascinating visual representation of what one trillion dollars would look like all in one place at one time.
If I recall correctly (and I really am doing this from memory), the total amount of paper money in circulation is roughly half that amount. Those bills wear out and are replaced. The turnover rate is surprisingly rapid -- every few years, even for the $100 bill. All of which leads us to my big idea for the day: Instead of hauling the old (but still negotiable) bills to a federal burn center, let's use the loot to pay unemployment benefits and other obligations. In cash. Leave the money in the system for another cycle.
Inflation? Yeah, but that'd be a good thing right now.
By the way, do you know how those old bills are transported to the place of burning? They get mailed. Just like a normal package. The money is hidden by the sheer awesome massiveness the postal system. Most people think that armored cars are used, but armored cars simply tell bad guys where the money is.
5 comments:
Aha! They used to test your SAT/LSAT/GRE/IQ/Mensa/Trivial Pursuit savvy with the question about vehicular right-of-way:
Which goes first?
a. fire truck
b. ambulance
c. police car
d. mail carrier
and the answer is mail carrier since it could be carrying a declaration of war.
(Was that ever true?)
But now (thank you!) we know the real reason.
The asked the infamous Willie Sutton why he robbed bamks - "That's where the money is" he replied.
Ah, the wonders of technology. I've seen that set of graphics a week or two ago and I was awestruck. I never knew it amounted to that much physically! Anyway, I like your idea. I mean, you know, money before being put in the burn center, is still money, it's still worth something after all... So yeah why not use them for another cycle?
"If I recall correctly (and I really am doing this from memory), the total amount of paper money in circulation is roughly half that amount."
Rather more than that: according to last week's Federal Reserve report (issued every Wednesday), the amount of currency in circulation on March 11 was $898.943 billion (see http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/).
Okay, there you are. That amount will more than pay for the bailout. Simply take the cash you were going to burn over the next few years, deposit it in a DC bank ("Can you handle a cash deposit of $800 billion?"), then write a few checks with LOTS of zeros.
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