[TChris]

More interesting math re: one billion:

• A stack of one billion dollar bills would be over 60 miles tall
• If a man began working full time at the age of 20, working 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year, no vacation, no holidays, no sick days, and if he was to retire at age 65, he would have to make an average of $10,683 an hour to earn $1 billion in his whole career.
• Or, another way of looking at it, if you were given $1 billion on your 20th birthday, you could spend $10,683 an hour, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year and not run out of cash until your 65th birthday.
• If you're Bill Gates, multiply those amounts by 50. $534,150 per hour, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, for 45 years.

[econjack]

Or, another way of looking at it, if you were given $1 billion on your 20th birthday, you could spend $10,683 an hour, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year and not run out of cash until your 65th birthday.

And that assumes you didn't put the unpaid balance in an interest-bearing asset. If you did that, you wouldn't live long enough to spend it all at that same rate!