Here's what one second of national debt looks like

If you're like most people not involved with drug trafficking, you don't often actually see U.S. money with more than one or two zeroes on it, as in $50 or $100.

Thus, Monday's news that the national debt was approaching the legal limit of $14.294 trillion creates a Clint Eastwood-style political showdown in the soggy streets of Washington.

On one side is Obama and his Democratic gang, who'd like the limit raised so their government can keep operating. On the other end of Main Street is the newly enlarged posse of Republicans, who are feeling their enhanced leverage and want spending-cut commitments before going along with the usually pro forma limit-raising.

The national debt flew past $14 trillion last Friday. That's a galactic sum that's difficult for any average American to imagine or even grasp. But let's try:

Fourteen trillion is 14-thousand billions. A billion is a thousand millions. A million is a thousand thousands.

A trillion has so many zeroes it won't fit in your checkbook -- 12 zeros, to be exact.

Last June 1 doesn't really seem all that long ago. The Gulf oil disaster was barely half-spilled. President Obama and Pancho Biden  were still promising....

...amazing job growth by summer's end. The Senate was confirming Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. CIA Director Leon Panetta still wasn't sure where Osama bin Laden was. Al and Tipper, and Tiger and Elin, were still married to each other.

Here's why we mention June 1. On that day the national debt was "only" $13 trillion. It's 214 days from June 1 through last Friday, Dec. 31. That's 5,136 hours or 308,160 minutes or 18,489,600 seconds.

In those seven short months the national debt increased by $1,000,000,000,000.

That works out to be a growth in national debt of $54,084 borrowed during every single one of those 18,489,600 seconds.

Scroll down to see approximately what that brief second looks like in real money:

THIS MUCH

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PLUS THIS MUCH

 PLUS THIS MUCH

 PLUS THIS MUCH

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PLUS THIS MUCH

PLUS THIS MUCH

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PLUS THIS MUCH

IN BORROWED MONEY EVERY SECOND SINCE JUNE 1

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: An Unforgiven cowboy

Comments

[Lane Core Jr.]

A brilliant exposition. Thanks.

[BoBo]

I think that you should changer your header to" This is what one second of Hope&Change costs.

[juandos]

Well personally I've seen a barn litterally stacked with pallets of bundled $100 bills from floor to ceiling....

I was told it was from the sales of six months of cocain sales...

Yet your description: "That works out to be a growth in national debt of $54,084 borrowed during every single one of those 18,489,600 seconds" just blows that totally away...

[Lester]

They have to stop spending. There is no amount of taxation to pay this off. Plus raising taxes only lowers output and more people will want to go on the government teat.

Plus they are completely lying about the debt. If you add in government unionized worker pensions, figure a few more trillion. We have to just tell people we are stopping government pension guarantees cold turkey. Your pension is indexed to the economy. If we have the money we pay you, if we do not then you have to go back to work to live or live off savings like the rest of us.

[bda616b]

In Andrew's world, it was the Democrat's who were responsible for raising the debt. In the real world, the truth is very different. Since he loves him some visuals, he and his sycophantic fans could try this one on for size.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/leonhardt.gif

I'm going to have to take some time and go through some of Andrew's columns (with a bottle of Advil at my side) and find the one blasting Republicans for the Bush tax cuts, not to mention the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[LTCSNICK]

I like to present it in this manner:
It takes 11 days to count to 1 million
It takest 32 years to count to 1 billion
it takes 32,000 years to count to 1 trillion
A trillion here a trillion there pretty soon you`re talking about real money

[bgarrett]

I am 60 years old and have heard about the national debt all my life.
But What is it, Really??

60 years later and here we are, still rocking along.
It doesnt seem to have any meaning at all.

[Pancho Olberman]

Bring back the 90 % tax bracket for the ritch so that we may continue to
create much needed social programs.

[smokehouse]

bgarrett, it seems you have a lot to learn.

[Jake]

And the answer to this problem is......

President RON PAUL

[Smol Dusaran]

It will be a long long while...

[Sage Alba]

Will it ever stop?

[rick g]

And of course, as you well know, this debt is simply the borrowed money that was spent. If you slightly more then double your list of bills, you can visualize total spending by the federal government.

But, my understanding is they are building those turtle bridges in San Francisco and the study of sex habits of drunken coeds is under way.

Future generations will be so proud.

[Celia]

I hope we all remember that Obama voted against raising the debt limit when in Congress..........this spending is the reason for the way the election went on Nov.2, 2010

STOP.......STOP THE SPENDING,,,,,,,,,take the unspent stimulus and pay down our national debt.

[John Snow]

I'd like for Mr. Malcolm to know he is in violation of counterfeiting laws. We're coming to arrest him for this article, because the currency shown was not enlarged to at least 150% of its original size per Treasury Department regulations. Have a nice day!

[Alan Smith]

Government agencies are printing this article so they can spend the pictures.

[Lawrence]

You need to do a similar presentation to show the shrinking purchasing power of the dollar since 1971, when we cut the last tie to any backing. In 1971, a U.S. dollar was worth 1/41 of an ounce of gold. Today it is worth about 1/1400 or so. Soon it will be 1/2000, then 1/5000, etc.

You should show a 1971 dollar as full length, then chop off more and more, until the current one is about 3% of the full length.

Yes, since we've been on Monopoly (fiat) money, it's already lost 97% of its purchasing power. That's the hidden tax ON TOP of income tax, capital gains tax, FICA tax, sales tax, etc, etc, etc. It's actually the biggest bite of all.

This theft of your property (and everyone worldwide that holds U.S. dollars) has been a bipartisan effort, on behalf of both the Democratic and Republican parties (although considerably more loss of purchasing power has happened under the Democrats, it was a Republican who cut the tie to gold).

[Lawrence]

To John Snow:

Maybe on your tiny monitor it is actual size, on my 30" monitor it is about 150% of the actual size. Just face up to it, some of us have tiny monitors, some of us have REALLY BIG monitors. So there - the oldest putdown in the book, updated to the 21st century ;-)

[art]

Drastic time for call for drastic measures. Business expansion will skyrocket and employment will increase dramatically with only one change in the government: Eliminate the EPA. Business in this country has fled to the far corners of the world since the inception of this insidious agency. Laws actually protecting the health of citizens would be kept on the books but if a multi-billion project is held up because of the long nosed three toed rat or whatever, we must have a checks and balances and some common sense. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and somehow we have given absolute power to non elected entity. Second agency to go should be the Dept of Ed. Our level of education has steadily declined since its' inception.

[Morgan Getham]

Or, you could have just put up a $100,000 bill and we'd have owed you change.

[Wayne]

Celia, There is now way to pay back Debt with Created DEBT!!

[Wayne]

Pancho, would you work and give 90% of what you get paid. You sound like a Socialist who wants benifit of other effort! Instead why don't you just stand on the stree and ask for FREE MONEY from people!!!

[Wayne]

bgarrett, If it doesn't have any meaning, then you must REALLY BELIEVE that your $20 buys EXACTLY the same as it did 50+ years ago. Wake up, it's only simple math! You don't only have a lot to learn, you also have a lot to realize, IF YOU HAVE THE CAPABILITY. YOU HAVE YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND!

[aren]

that equals $ 54,084 =D