What's a Billion?

When I was a kid…

Sixty-five was old.

Smoking was socially acceptable.

Cars didn’t have seatbelts.

Corporal punishment (in schools and homes) was common

Everybody on our block had a party line telephone, and

One million dollars was inconceivable.

Million dollar salaries in professional sports are not uncommon, but it wasn’t until the late ‘70s that Nolan Ryan got a guaranteed one million dollars per year baseball contract. Now that seems cheap. 

Also, when I was a kid, the ultra-rich paid for libraries and parks and endowed colleges and spent their money on building a better America. While it is true that some ultra wealthy contribute significant money to various causes, there is more ego and status seeking than before. I don’t think that any of the ultra wealthy fifty or sixty years ago would buy a yacht that could house another couple of yachts. A millionaire in the 1960s might be equated to a billionaire in the 2020s. 

The difference between one million and one billion is an easy mathematical answer, but scale makes the difference more start. One million seconds is over eleven days, but one billion seconds is almost thirty two years. And to bring it back to when I was a kid, in 1962 the wealthiest 1% of Americans had net worths equal to about 125 times that of the average household. In 2009 their net worths were about 225 times as much. And the thing that is scary is that the Federal Reserve data from 2024 showed that the 1% of households at 30.5% of the wealth and the bottom 50% held about 2.5% 

It makes me wonder if there is some day of reckoning coming…