As we listen daily to broadcasters, bankers and politicians talk about the current economic crisis we hear numbers like millions, billions and trillions.  Most of us, myself included have trouble getting our heads around these numbers.   I thought this would be helpful to make sense of these numbers. 

1,000,000 (1 million) seconds equals ~0.031 years

1,000,000,000 (1 billion) seconds equals ~31.6 years

1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) seconds equals ~31,688.8 years


Lets see, one million seconds ago it was summer!

Worse yet, one billion seconds ago it was it was May of 1977!

If you can grasp this, one trillion seconds ago it was......29,679  BC

Perhaps this will bring the numbers that politicians throw around a bit more realistic for us all to grasp.  Basically, we need to be aware of the debt we are in or that we are leaving our children, grandchildren and likely our great grandchildren!  Happy Deficit Day!