Some important facts and figures from XKCD

XKCD's Huge money chart

This chart merely reflects a lot of the money in circulation right now, from 2011 and I thought people at ATS would like to use it to provide some perspective to the financial matters happening elsewhere in this forum.

This is not breaking news, merely a chance to have an alternate perspective on the money, Randall Munroe (the guy who writes the comic) did an amazing amount of research in making this for his fans.

You should take a look, zoom in and out, tell me what interests you about this chart and we can discuss things about it, and you should use some of it when talking about other topics in the financial melt down.

One thing I really want to point out is in the Billions section you can see a small note, 6 things I learned while researching this chart. Give that a read, it's not about money but the guy who made the chart leanred some thing he never knew as well. It should tell you how important it would be to keep this chart nearby, in case you need to look up some facts or figures, even compare the blocks as shown with each other.

Also, look a little bit to the right of that to see the "Megaprojects" section, and it will show you that the US Interstate Highway System is considered to be one gigantic project; In the future I imagine there will be a mega project that dwarfs that, I would like to see a megaproject worth 500 Billion, or even 750 Billion! I wonder what it would be, like a high-speed rail project that covers all of North America?

Please, sound off below, what you think about this chart, how it can be used in other discussions about the global meltdown.

reply to post by Sachyriel

I really appreciate you sharing this with the forum. These charts are really unbelievable! Talk about a central planners wet dream.

I'll spend a few hours taking a look at it when I get some free time and chime in again with my opinion of it all. My initial reaction is "a visual of how politicians squander the treasure of the human race."

In the future I imagine there will be a mega project that dwarfs that, I would like to see a megaproject worth 500 Million, or even 750 million! I wonder what it would be, like a high-speed rail project that covers all of North America?

I'm sure you meant to say Billions The Boston Big Dig alone cost 22 Billion and it is just a 3 mile stretch!

Edit to add:

Another mesmerizing "visual guide"