How Big is $15 TRILLION?

Last night a grandson was watching the President on TV with me. He heard me muttering in amazement at the way the TRILLION dollar numbers just seemed to roll off the lips, but he had no concept of what he was hearing. So he asked, "Grandpa, how much is $15 TRILLION?"

We went to the computer and this is what we found. It kind of helps to visualize it since it's so difficult to grasp it in words alone.

The fact that amazes me is we actually are having an ideological war of words about it between the parties. Doesn't everyone agree that we have to stop the runaway freight train of spending NOW? It should be a no brainer. Today the CBO scored Boehner's plan and discovered it fell short in actual results of the $1 Trillion he was seeking in cuts, so the vote on his bill is going to be delayed until they can come up with more cuts.

At least someone is doing some serious counting, but as you can see from the illustration, that's a lot of counting!