Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Economics 101 or Show Me the Money

$100 dollar bills are approximately 6.125 inches long by 2.5 inches wide. A 1" layer = 500 $100 dollar bills or one ream, the way the Fed packages money).


A standard box car is 50' long, 10' wide and 12.5' high. The volume of same totals approximately 6250 cubic feet (50'X10'X12.5'). Weight capacity, approximately 70 tons.

Using these dimensions, 4656 $100 bills would cover the floor of said box car (48 X 97 = 4656). A 1" layer (or one ream) would amount to 2,328,000 bills (4656 X 500 = 2,328,000) or be worth $23,280,000 (2,328,000 X $100). Filling one box car up would generate a cool $3,492,000,000 ($23,280,000 X 149 [12,5' = 150"- 1" {the ream already computed} or 149]).

Endgame: $15,000,000,000 divided by $3,492,000,000 = 4.295 box cars filled with $100s.

Addendum: The weight of each note is one gram. There are 454 grams in one U.S. pound, therefore, there should be 454 notes in (1) pound.
Ergo: 150,000,000 bills divided by 454 (1 pound of $100s) = 330,396 pounds or 165 tons (30396/2000 = 165) .

Question: How does one lose $15,000,000,000 or 4.295 box cars filled with $100s weighing 165 tons?

Answer: Ask the Pentagon.

Oh, I forgot, they don't know. Maybe Haliburton might or the BA or better yet, the Tooth Fairy because she knows when you lose a tooth so finding something like $15,000,000,000 shouldn't be a big deal at all.

Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads

Addendum II: With the Iraq/Afghanistan wars projecting to cost 3 Trillion, the monies, if converted to cash, would be truly astounding. Just multiple 15 billion by 200 and do the math.

Same as it ever was - Talking Heads

Addendum. The amount may be 23Billion. Click here to see why.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Where are the facts. What is the Washington Post article?