As a visual person, graphs appeal to me as a way to get my data, and see how things relate to each other. Thus, websites like Graph Jam make my day brighter, and Wall Stats leads me to more comparative thinking than just how many Chipotle burritos a certain things may cost (my usual standard of measure).
When the government announced in October that the bailout package would be $780 billion dollars, my mind reeled (it reeled even more when they said they had just plucked a number out of the aether, but in a different way, the kind that leads to a stiff drink). I, like most people have little concept of what a billion of any one thing would be. My burrito logic falls apart because a billion burritos is kind of crazy, and not something I would buy – at one time.
Wall Stat’s visualizations of what one billion dollars is equal to were eye-opening. Here are the ones that struck me the most; the rest of them can be seen here.
Filed under: America, Insanity | Tagged: America, burritos, government, holy crap, money, one BILLION dollars
As cool as this is, it’s 5:20 in the morning, and now I really want Chipotle.
Mindblowingly depressing – how dare these ‘elected’ caretakers of our money squander it so.