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What does a trillion dollars look like?

Given all the recent talk of government stimulus packages, bailouts, quantitative easing, and spending programs that amount to trillions of dollars in expenditures, it's gotten easier to lose sight of what a trillion dollars represents.

What does one trillion dollars look like? Let's use images to visualize.

For the sake of visual comparison, here's what a million dollars in stacked $100 dollar bills (or, Federal Reserve Notes) looks like:

Here's one billion dollars in stacked C-notes:


One trillion dollars (in double stacked pallets of $100 bills) looks something like this:

If you look directly above the arrow I've placed in that graphic, you'll see the same little guy standing right next to the double stacked pallets of money.

So the next time you hear some politician or a "too big to fail" executive talking about how much they really need that trillion dollars for their can't miss plan to help save the world, just remember this: Dr. Evil only wanted $100 billion for not blowing up the world.

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