Putting it All in Perspective

A while back I ran across some interesting graphics that illustrated what various large amounts of money would look like if they were expressed as packets of $100 bills. This is what $1 billion would look like if it was in standard bank packets of $100 bills - a "strap" of 100 c-notes, or $10,000 ...

Each of those piles of straps of $100 bills is resting on a standard-sized cargo pallet, with a non-gender-specific humanoid individual* for reference. That's quite a lot of hundred dollar bills, especially now that I have to count them a lot more closely than I used to.

Now consider that the 2016 presidential campaign could cost between three and five billion dollars ... most of it from sources Real People aren't allowed to know about. Five billion dollars would look like this ...

Now, instead of picturing that amount of money as pallets of $100 bills, why not picture it as ... oh ... schools? Or affordable hospitals? Or clean water? Or non-collapsing bridges and non-potholed roads?

I know that my deeply conservative and libertarian friends will howl with outrage and ask the usual question - "Who are you to tell me how to spend my money?" Well, I obviously have no control over how you spend your money. But what I do have is a vital interest in how you spend your money if your intent is to buy control over the government that makes decisions that affect me and my family. You're going to spend your money however you want ... but don't expect me to accept that you can buy a platinum-plus level of government service and assistance** that other people can't afford.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* I don't want to offend anyone, and I don't care where he/she goes to the bathroom.

** Tax breaks, corporate welfare, etc.