HOW MUCH IS A TRILLION?

This shows the real problem for the Obama administration. Trillions of dollars in debt.

How much is a trillion? In trying to comprehend the budget deficits that the administration is proposing, we face the problem of what academics call “insensitivity to scope.” It affects us all; we can understand something on a small scale but have a difficult time comprehending the same thing on a massive scale.Insensitivity to scope is a major obstacle to understanding budget deficits running to the trillions over the next decade. People simply have trouble understanding nmbers so big. One way I've read to explain what a trillion is is to make it accessible, say by thinking of one dollar as one second of time. That may make it easier to comprehend what we are facing in the debt we are about to incur.

So here goes. If a dollar is one second in time:

1. Who was President one million seconds ago? (Don't look, in the privacy of your own home, take a guess.
2. Who was President one billion seconds ago?
3. Who was President one trillion seconds ago?

ANSWERS:

1) Approximately one million seconds ago (about 11 days ago), Barak Obama was President. Arlen Spector announced his intention to leave the Republican Party and join the Democratic Party; the 2009 NBA playoffs were in full gear; Joe Biden was warning against taking the subway.

2) Approximately one billion seconds ago (1977-78), Jimmy Carter was President; Anwar Sadat visited Israel; the Sex Pistols were hot; Bruce Jenner was a leading celebrity; John Belushi was on Saturday Night Live; Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran; Barak Obama was in high school and Teddy Kennedy was divorcing his first wife.

3) Approximately one trillion seconds ago (30,000 b.c.), no one was President. Neanderthals camped in Europe; the Great Lakes had yet to be formed; the world's few homo sapiens had barely emerged from Africa; woolly mamoths, sabertooth tigers and giant sloths roamed much of the world unmolested by humanoids.

That is how big a trillion is.

OBAMA'S FIRST 100 DAYS: GRADE B+

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GENERAL TONE (Calm)
“Obama is a great figurehead for seeming to be in control and caring.” – George Feiger, CEO of Contango Capital commenting in Barrons . That is my take too. While we don’t know what will happen, Obama’s calm demeanor has set a good tone for how best to manage this crisis.
Grade: A

FOREIGN POLICY (Time will tell)
While there are serious concerns about the approach Obama is making in treating human-rights-abusing dictators as legitimate leaders of countries, the approach has internal logic: that such dictators will become – or act – better if embraced by the world’s legitimate governments. This policy is very high risk but given Obama’s current great popularity in the world, if anyone can pull this off it would be him – making these bad guys look even worse if they continue to abuse their own populations while giving the finger to the rest of the world. This policy used to be called “Appeasement” and it had a vast amount of support in the world prior to Munich and Hitler in 1938. That it has become a bad word does not necessarily mean it won’t work now but it also doesn't mean it will. Context is not everything but it is a lot and perhaps the world has changed – though again, perhaps not. We will see. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt for now and a good grade so far.
Grade: B

ECONOMIC POLICY (Worrisome)
This is harder. It’s possible that the unprecedented debt that the Obama administration has allowed and is proposing for the future will help revive the economy. It’s also possible that it will create overwhelming problems that will make our country and world much poorer during the next generations. It is also possible it will do both. My inclination is to think the Administration’s strategy of not spending a lot on immediate stimulus but rather bailing out bad actors while creating future years of immense debt is a bad idea – and in that I am joined by most Republicans, numerous economists and also by such Democrats as former labor secretary Robert Reich and Birch Bayh (each for different reasons, Reich gives Obama a C-). Still, context is important and we are in unchartered territory so, so far, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and a high grade for effort.
Grade: B