The Washington Examiner recently released a piece claiming that our national debt has skyrocketed by nearly $600 billion in the three weeks since the debt ceiling was suspended. While these staggering numbers are accurate, this borrowing has been happening since March, when the Treasury previously hit the debt limit and borrowed from loophole accounts to cover federal government expenditures.
Now, with the recent budget deal raising the debt limit by suspension, the numbers are brought to light, and once again, we are reminded that the federal government has a very concerning spending problem. Several people are probably wondering, “How could someone spend that much money in such a short time?”
Others are rightly dumbfounded, because they look at the balance in their own bank account, compare it to such a large number, and struggle to comprehend what a number that size looks like—or what they could do with it.
Don’t worry—these are normal, healthy questions to ask. For me (a visual learner), I like to see number broken down into practical application.
Here’s a list of things you could buy with $600 billion:
- For those who can’t make up their mind on which football team to root for this Thanksgiving, you could simply buy every single team in the NFL—9 times over. Or if you were bored with that much football, you could diversify and own every team in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NHL 4 times over.
- Anyone driving this holiday season? With $600 billion, you could buy 255 billion gallons of gasoline. If I filled my car up once a week (14-gallon tank), I could have enough gas to last me 18.2 billion weeks, or 350 million years, or if I get 400 miles per tank, I could drive 7.3 trillion miles. You could drive from sea to shining sea 3.5 billion times, or drive around the world nearly 292 million times. Seriously, I’d probably be bored after the first million trips.
- Even with the elevated price of turkey this year, you could still purchase nearly 26 billion Thanksgiving turkeys. If you bought only half that amount, think about all the extra stuffing and sweet potato mash you could have. Gobble gobble!
- You could walk your wealthy self into any given Apple Store and buy one of each of the highest-priced items in the Apple catalog 27.6 million times. Or, if you’re over-stimulated from the sheer bliss of a gold Apple Watch (or many of them), you could buy the majority stake in the company. You might even have enough money left over to purchase a black turtleneck and jeans to match Steve Jobs.
- For those who like riding in style, feel free to purchase 1.2 million Rolls-Royce Phantom Aviators. Oh, and please stay classy!
- Did you know that there is an effort to reconstruct the Mayflower? According to estimates from the Harwich Mayflower Project in the United Kingdom, the replica of the Mayflower would cost up to $4.6 million. If you really wanted to connect with your inner Pilgrim, you could have an entire fleet of Mayflower replicas—over 130,000 of them.
- Here’s a really staggering statistic: According to the latest census data, there are over 322 million people living in the U.S. That means Congress and President Barack Obama have increased the debt by nearly $1,800 per person in the last 3 weeks.
While these are all wild and ridiculous examples, it’s important to put this much money in perspective. Numbers are so often spoken in one ear only to go out the other, because they are difficult to grasp—especially when you’re dealing with such large figures.
After breaking them down, it is clear that Obama and Congress have a spending problem. The problem is that they are spending our tax dollars and our children’s future tax dollars.
As we enter into this holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas filled with joy, happiness, and hope, most families are on a budget to spend within their means. We can only hope Obama and Congress treat our country’s checkbook the same.
Happy Thanksgiving and merry Christmas!
