{"id":93685,"date":"2024-11-13T17:59:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T06:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/?p=93685"},"modified":"2025-01-30T21:59:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T10:59:21","slug":"how-much-is-a-billion-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"How much is a Billion dollars?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A billion \u2013 in Australia \u2013 is $1,000,000,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You see this amount written everywhere these days.<\/p>\n

You cannot escape it.<\/p>\n

It was brought home to me a few weeks back, whilst driving through New South Wales.<\/p>\n

Road work signs proudly announced $2.3 billion worth of construction here, another $1.7 billion there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Governments love to announce new projects.<\/p>\n

The bigger the dollar signs, the better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

High Speed Rail, no problems, that\u2019s just $114 billion (based on latest estimates); oh, and the NBN\u2026well, that is just another $50 billion, give or take $5 billion.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a few billion dollars between us Aussies?<\/p>\n

Everything will be okay, mate!<\/p>\n

\"pencil<\/picture><\/span>

Note: <\/span>All new government projects involve debt. On average, studies suggest that over 90% of such funds needed are borrowed.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

You, I, our children, our grandchildren and very likely great grandchildren will be paying off this debt.<\/p>\n

So what does a billion dollars really look like?<\/h2>\n

If you were paid $1 for every step you took, to earn a billion Australian dollars, you have to walk around the centre of earth some 31 times.<\/p>\n

Now, if you were a really fit bugger and walked eight hours non-stop, every weekday, it would take you some 60-odd years to walk that distance.<\/p>\n

\r\n\r\n

<\/div>But that is somewhat silly, so let's look at something more reasonable.<\/p>\n

The most quoted walking target is 10,000 steps per day.<\/p>\n

So, that's 70,000 steps per week, or 3.64 million steps per annum.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you keep this up every week, it would take about 274 years or - if you were lucky enough to live to the average age of an Aussie (currently 82 years) - almost three and a half lifetimes to walk far enough to earn $1A billion.<\/p>\n

Which ever way you cut it, a billion is\u00a0a bloody massive amount.<\/p>\n

Some may say that borrowing money to pay for things used over a millennium is worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Others will chirp in and talk about the \u2018multiplier effect\u2019; you know \u2013 stuff like economic stimulus, job creation, investment confidence, debt to GDP ratios and similar economic weasel words.<\/p>\n

\"pencil<\/picture><\/span>

Note: <\/span>In the decades immediately after the Second World War, a dollar of debt produced a dollar of economic output; so, worthwhile one might think.\u00a0 But these days, it takes more than $4 of debt to produce $1 of economic output.<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Like any Ponzi scheme, this driver of artificial growth must have its limits.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A billion \u2013 in Australia \u2013 is $1,000,000,000. You see this amount written everywhere these days. You cannot escape it. It was brought home to me a few weeks back, whilst driving through New South Wales. Road work signs proudly announced $2.3 billion worth of construction here, another $1.7 billion there. Governments love to announce…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[653],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-finance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow much is a Billion dollars?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A billion \u2013 in Australia \u2013 is $1,000,000,000. You see this amount written everywhere these days. You cannot escape it. 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It was brought home to me a few...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-13T06:59:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-30T10:59:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/rich-money-wealthy-million-billion-gold-dollar-bank-vault-save-deposit-buy-invest1-1160x716.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1943\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Matusik\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/\",\"name\":\"How much is a Billion dollars?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/how-much-is-a-billion-dollars\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/rich-money-wealthy-million-billion-gold-dollar-bank-vault-save-deposit-buy-invest1-1160x716.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-13T06:59:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-30T10:59:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/c5aa0877c2c0e4d6cbab0d86720f960a\"},\"description\":\"A billion \u2013 in Australia \u2013 is $1,000,000,000. 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