After it gets to a certain point, we lose comprehension of the vastness, and the vast difference between, a million and a billion. You can comprehend a million easily enough. Hmm, if I'm one of those lucky souls making $100,000 annually, then a million is 10 years worth of salary.
Now think in terms of billions: one billion equals 1,000 millions. That's a lot of millions! Take it a step further and try to imagine a trillion (like the $3.2 trillion national deficit). A trillion is 1,000 billions. I'll stop there, because I think we all get the point. These kinds of numbers boggle the mind, and when it becomes particularly uncomfortable thinking about them, we do a mental block-out.
Take last month's issue of Claims, for instance. On page 24, we reported in two different places about hurricane damage in the millions, when, of course, we should have been speaking in billions. Not one phone call or e-mail ensued. And this wasn't in a short news piece, but in our cover story, so we know most of you saw it and did the old mental block-out! Well, that's not quite true. The president of this company read it on a plane, and was quick to point out the error to me. (Rats!)
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