How much is £1 Trillion?

[Mon Ami Mate]

As a man of words and not numbers, I'm trying to get my head around the apparent £1 Trillion national debt. How much is a Trillion? We seem to measure it differently to our chums across the pond - am I right in thinking that a British Trillion is a Million Billion, and the Septics translate it as a Thousand Billion?

[wolves_wanderer]

The US version is the accepted definition AFAIK

[BOR]

Is it the amount Northernboy earns per month for "working hard"

[Westy Pre-Lit]

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

[johnfm]

Is it about half the amount brown spent on 5 a day outreach coordinators for one legged half caste gay whales from inner city estates?

[Mon Ami Mate]

Westy Pre-Lit said:

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

But that, clearly, is a US Trillion. I'm sure we measure it differently in this country? Is our national debt one US Trillion or one British Billion? Or am I talking utter bks?

[ewenm]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Westy Pre-Lit said:

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

But that, clearly, is a US Trillion. I'm sure we measure it differently in this country? Is our national debt one US Trillion or one British Billion? Or am I talking utter bks?

You're right in that the US Trillion is different to the UK Trillion but in terms of the debt and national/global finance we use the US version.

Edit: probably because it's easier for the media to say "trillion" than "thousand billion".

[Captain Cadillac]

At the rate Obama's going our version of $1 Trillion will be enough to buy a nice used Honda quite shortly.

[youngsyr]

If you count out loud, saying one number per second (which is probably faster than you can say the higher numbers), then it would take you nearly 32,000 years to count to a (US) trillion.

[fido]

Captain Cadillac said:

At the rate Obama's going our version of $1 Trillion will be enough to buy a nice used Honda quite shortly.

NSX's especially in manual form are getting quite rare.

[Ribol]

BOR said:

Is it the amount Northernboy earns per month for "working hard"

Still banging that old drum is he

Let's face it, any one of us (and some do) can be anything we want on here if we can be bothered to, all you have to do is stick to the same story

[Mr Sparkle]

We (UK) use this now:

Billion £1,000,000,000
Trillion £1,000,000,000,000

US style.

[F i F]

Westy Pre-Lit said:

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

Off topic but in a similar vein I like this

[Asterix]

I doubt it is just me but did the whole Billion thing creep up on us. It wasn't long ago when everything was in hundreds of millions and then almost overnight everything went to billions!?

I'm aware that it was a logical thing to happen but it still surprises me how fast it happened.

How long until the first Trillionaire?

[Neil H]

One thousand billion, or 1,000,000,000,000.

All financial numbers use the short scale.

[BMWBen]

Asterix said:

I doubt it is just me but did the whole Billion thing creep up on us. It wasn't long ago when everything was in hundreds of millions and then almost overnight everything went to billions!?

I'm aware that it was a logical thing to happen but it still surprises me how fast it happened.

How long until the first Trillionaire?

Well, people like Bill Gates have only got 50 Billion odd, so a fair old while I'd say

[Neil H]

BMWBen said:

Asterix said:

I doubt it is just me but did the whole Billion thing creep up on us. It wasn't long ago when everything was in hundreds of millions and then almost overnight everything went to billions!?

I'm aware that it was a logical thing to happen but it still surprises me how fast it happened.

How long until the first Trillionaire?

Well, people like Bill Gates have only got 50 Billion odd, so a fair old while I'd say

There's plenty of trillionaires in Japan.

[BMWBen]

Neil H said:

There's plenty of trillionaires in Japan.

There's always one. Let's standardise on USD eh

[Brighton Derly]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Westy Pre-Lit said:

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

But that, clearly, is a US Trillion. I'm sure we measure it differently in this country? Is our national debt one US Trillion or one British Billion? Or am I talking utter bks?

A trillion is 1000 x 1 billion.

ewenm said:

Mon Ami Mate said:

Westy Pre-Lit said:

It looks like this.

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

But that, clearly, is a US Trillion. I'm sure we measure it differently in this country? Is our national debt one US Trillion or one British Billion? Or am I talking utter bks?

You're right in that the US Trillion is different to the UK Trillion but in terms of the debt and national/global finance we use the US version.

Edit: probably because it's easier for the media to say "trillion" than "thousand billion".

We officially abandoned the 'UK trillion' in the 70s. A trillion is 1000 x 1 billion, has been for nearly 40 years.

[andy43]

Look. We're fked either way. Ta Gordon.