$2,287,706,658,821 ($2.29 Trillion)

$2,287,706,658,821 ($2.29 Trillion)

I received an interesting email today.

It turns out that the number $2.2 trillion is not an uncommon one. It seems that in 2007 the country spent $2.24 trillion on health care.

The IMF estimates that worldwide bank losses on U.S. assets topped $2.2 trillion.

The projected cost to repair America’s infrastructure is estimated at $2.2 trillion.

Oil companies have paid a combined total of $2.2 trillion in taxes over the last 25 years, adjusted for inflation.

There’s more, but that gives you a taste.

But how do you visualize that much money?

My correspondent was ingenious. According to WikiAnswers, a single crisp new dollar bill has dimensions of

6.6294cm (2.61″) wide, by 15.5956cm (6.14″) long, and 0.010922cm (0.0043″) in thickness

Not much help.

Here’s a visual:

That’s Kheops’ pyramid, the Great Pyramid at Giza. Click for a bigger version of the image.

It has a volume of 2,583,283 cubic meters.

Now imagine all that stone was instead stacks of $1 bills:

$2,287,706,658,821.00
$2.29 trillion.

Boggles, doesn’t it?