A trillion

I am no math whiz, and trying to make sense of numbers can leave my head spinning.

So what I'm about to attempt may induce a daze -- for you, too.

That's my last warning.

In my lifetime, I have seen so many things get bigger.

When I was born, for example, I was expected to be taller than my parents and their parents and their parents. And I was. So was most everyone in my generation.

Then the next generation came along. Although I have never conceded this fact to them, both my sons are taller than I am. Much taller.

There are reasons for this growth spurt, experts say: better nutrition, better prenatal and pediatric health care, modern medications, plenty of milk.

Our appetites got bigger too. Every fast-food place in America found ways to woo us with supersizing. We get more burger, more cheese, more bun, more fries and more soda. We pay more, of course, but, by golly, we're getting such a good deal.

If you go to stores that sell clothing, you will see that most of what's hanging on the racks has more X's in front of the size: XL, XXL, XXXL and so on.

I understand bigger and better. But I'm having trouble with bigger and not necessarily better.

That's were money comes in.

In my lifetime a good-paying job has gone from $5,000 a year to $50,000 a year.

Take those figures: 5,000 and 50,000. What's the difference? A measly zero.

Mathematically, the extra zero means a good salary has gone up 10 times in my lifetime.

Other numbers have done the same.

How many years ago did Everett Dirksen say, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money"?

Of course, these days no one in Washington talks about small change. Nowadays, it's trillions of dollars: the deficit, the national debt, the cost of waging war in the Mideast, the federal budget, the cost of cleaning up the world's worst oil spill.

If you say "trillion" enough times, your mind starts to numb to it. Pretty soon, "trillion" rolls off your tongue with no trouble at all.

The question: Does your mind comprehend how much a "trillion" is?

It's all a matter of zeros.

A million has six zeros. A billion has nine zeros -- a thousand times bigger than a million. A trillion has 12 zeros -- a thousand times bigger than a billion and a whopping million times bigger than a million.

If instead of saying a "trillion" you said a "thousand, thousand. thousand ... million," you would have to say "thousand" a million times.

Assuming you could say "million" once a second, if you started working your way up to a trillion right now you be saying a "thousand" every second until sometime Aug. 18.

That's how much a "trillion" is.

Here's my worry:

We're going to get so used to saying "trillion" that we may not even notice when the first "quadrillion" slips out of someone's mouth, referring, I'm afraid, to our nation's financial situation.

That would take until sometime in the year 2042 to say "thousand, thousand, thousand ... million."

Well, it's only time.

And money.

jsullivan@semissourian.com