The Magic of Big Numbers
When I listen to politicians I sometimes wonder: Millions, billions, trillions – numbers seem to be only words, and currencies fluctuate as well easily. The taxpayer in me wonders if there is no longer any connection to reality.
When I was still in R&D and as parttime controller part of budget meetings, I witnessed that a head of a product line literally said “It´s only 20 million.” For me, at this time, 20 million was quite some money and is it till today. However, 20 million was so much money that I failed to keep it “touchable” beside “that is big”. When I drove home this evening, I still wondered about the only 20 million.
To make it touchable, I converted 20 million in the value of houses in our neighborhood. 30 average houses have been the equivalent to 20 million at this time. 30 houses I could imagine. 30 houses I could count. Since then, I am counting cars, houses, planes, or the economic power of cities: 1.3 bn Euros, a sum now transferred by the German Government to ArcelorMittal in India in the context of steel subsidies is more than the annual gross national product of the city Suhl. Suhl is a city of 37.000 citizens. In other words – the city of Suhl is working one year to earn the money (not to make such profit) sent to a multinational company.
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