US debt clock runs out of digits--Alright, I'm freaking out . . . kind of.

US debt clock runs out of digits

"The US government's debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.

The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount."

Can someone please make time move faster and get rid of Bush and the Republicans, and have Obama in office for a year already?

Please . . .

Also, "[t]he clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt" (my bold, my italics).

"allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt"

How many zeroes are in a "quadrillion"?

1 000 000 000 000 000 = FIVE SETS OF TRIPLE ZEROES

Let me say that again--That's FIVE SETS OF TRIPLE ZEROES!!! If we don't get taught this number in elementary school there's a reason for it!!! It's because NOBODY ever USES the number!!!

From wikipedia.com, Quadrillion may mean either of the two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):

• 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one thousand million million; 10¹⁵; SI prefix peta-) - for all short scale countries - increasingly common meaning in English language usage
• 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one million million million million; 10²⁴; SI prefix: yotta-) - for all long scale countries - increasingly rare meaning in English language usage

Yikes!

My thoughts exactly little one, my thoughts exactly.

So, let's put a "QUADRILLION" into perspective--if that's even possible.

The World's Richest People
Gates No Longer World's Richest Man

"Warren Buffett is the richest man on the planet.

Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ) stock, America's most beloved investor has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago. That massive pile of scratch puts him ahead of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) co-founder Bill Gates, who was the richest man in the world for 13 straight years.

Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been perhaps as rich--or richer--than Buffett had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) at the beginning of February."

Warren Buffet = $62 000 000 000

16, 129 Warren Buffets = a quadrillion dollars

To quote Susan Powter,

"STOP THE INSANITY!!!"
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=p063wg78Yss

The simple fact that people are ANTICIPATING a quadrillion dollar debt is beyond my ability to comprehend . . . it's like thinking about,

1. penrose impossible triangle


2. Impossible Link


J