Here is another way to look at at what trillions of dollars really mean in a context that one can almost grasp. Take the current REAL total cost for the Wall St. bailout, it now exceeds 8 trillion dollars in a matter of ONE year.

Look at Hurricane Katrina the WORST single disaster in US history at an (arguably) $50 billion insured cost lost for repair/replacement. This is 2 Hurricane Andrews, by the way.

$8.5 trillion is equivalent to 170 Major cities getting demolished by a Katrina IN ONE YEAR.

If you look at the total Credit Default Swap and Derivative fiasco which is being pegged at 600 trillion, this represents 12,000 Major Cities getting demolished by a Katrina IN ONE YEAR.

Happy '09.