Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

whatdoesonebilliondollarslooklike.website

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 107 posts

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#31

Post by jiggawatts »

neilv wrote: post #10

Presenter: "With a million dollars, you can own a nice home." Presenter: "With two million dollars, you can own two nice homes." Presenter: "With three mil--" Audience: "Wait, who owns two nice homes, when so many people don't have any? Why is that even legal?" Presenter: "Please, no interruptions; I have a lot more counting to do."

In Australia, a million dollars (US or AUD, doesn't matter) is a deposit on a nice home.

My former boss just sold his business and become a multi-millionaire. He'll have to go back into the workforce to be able to afford a decent -- but not palatial -- home in a nice suburb.

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#32

Post by shmerl »

BinaryMachine wrote: post #28
shmerl wrote: post #20

> To earn $1,000,000,000 you'd have to work more than 1,379 lifetimes! Reminds "Something for Nothing" by Sheckley.

thats depressing

Yeah, mining stone for someone's "free" palace for who knows how many lifetimes is no fun.

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#35

Post by harmmonica »

al_borland wrote: post #29
harmmonica wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought one of the biggest problems with modern education is not spending enough time teaching people about interest rates/return on investment. If everyone just understood what you're pointing out here--just really "got it"--I feel like the world would be in a much better place. It's not dire (I don't think?), and I know we've come a very long way, but, man, it could be so much better.

Maybe. A lot of these calculations are usually based on historical averages for the US stock market. For the economy to keep moving, they need people to spend their money. Eventually it may all even out, where people spend so much once they hit a certain point in their life/portfolio, that it allows for everyone else to be saving and investing everything in the first few decades of life. But a transition period where…

I appreciate what you're saying here, all of it, and wonder some of the same, but my comment was likely overly cryptic because I didn't mean anything about consumption.

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#36

Post by TacticalCoder »

rapnie wrote: post #22
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

A cube of 100 dollar bills four feet on a side is about 160M dollars. So, six of them.

This made me do a search on the missing Iraqi billions, as I remember there were details at the time how it was packaged in pallets and flown into the country. Couldn't find that, but according to The Guardian [0]: > Over the first 14 months of the occupation, 363 tonnes of new $100 bills were shipped in - $12bn, in cash. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/20/usa.iraq

[dead]

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#37

Post by TacticalCoder »

neilv wrote: post #10

Presenter: "With a million dollars, you can own a nice home." Presenter: "With two million dollars, you can own two nice homes." Presenter: "With three mil--" Audience: "Wait, who owns two nice homes, when so many people don't have any? Why is that even legal?" Presenter: "Please, no interruptions; I have a lot more counting to do."

[dead]

Re: What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?

#39

Post by stephen_g »

taf2 wrote: post #18

Now add the US debt!

If you're looking at a billion dollars you're looking at all kinds of debt, including US bonds. Much of what gives money value is the existence of debt (another thing is the obligation of taxation). Always has been, which is why trying to tie currencies to values of commodities or precious metals has always collapsed eventually...
Post reply on HN