$2 trillion is a very popular number. When the right-wing hostage takers at long last agreed to a $2.1 trillion ransom for the debt ceiling, they left the impression that $2.1 trillion was a carefully calculated and negotiated number. Maybe it was. I rather doubt it, because a search on the phrase \u201c$2.1 trillion\u201d yields an array of citations that might lead one to believe that $2 trillion is less a mathematical calculation than a convenient ballpark number, easily thrown about when an economist or policy maker wants to make a big point with a big number.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

The Obama administration\u00a0says that, in downgrading the U.S. credit rating to AA+, \u00a0Standard & Poor’s\u00a0 made a significant mathematical mistake in a document it provided to the Treasury Department, overstating the federal debt by about $2 trillion<\/strong> over 10 years. “A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion<\/strong> error speaks for itself,” a Treasury spokeswoman said.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Urban Land Institute says the United States, needs to invest $2 trillion<\/strong> to rebuild roads, bridges, water lines, sewage systems and dams that are reaching the end of their planned life cycles.<\/p>\n

In 2009, stock owners, bankers, brokers, hedge-fund wizards, highly paid corporate executives, corporations, and mid-ranking managers pocketed\u2014as either income, benefits, or perks such as corporate jets\u2014<\/a>an estimated $1.91 trillion<\/strong> that 40 years ago would have collectively gone to non-supervisory and production workers in the form of higher wages and benefits.<\/p>\n

The global hedge fund industry now controls total assets worth $2.02 trillion<\/strong>, according to Hedge Fund Research<\/a>. That’s up $102 billion from the first quarter of 2010 and is more than the industry had in the second quarter of 2008, when assets peaked at $1.93 trillion.<\/p>\n

U.S. state and local governments spend close to $2 trillion<\/strong> annually on goods and services, according to an ABC News<\/a> report.<\/p>\n

Multicultural Americans buy over $2 trillion<\/strong> in goods and services annually, says Ethnoconnect.<\/a><\/p>\n

The United States currently spends more than $2 trillion<\/strong> a year on health care, according to a White House<\/a> statement.<\/p>\n

According to the World Trade Organization<\/a>, the total annual global trade in goods and services before the current economic crisis was approaching $40 trillion; but as much as $2 trillion<\/strong> of the total may be illicit money that has been illegally moved out of a country, or has been used to provide illegal kickbacks to corrupt executives or officials.<\/p>\n

Counting the value of lives lost as well as property damage and lost production of goods and services, losses attributable to the terror attacks of September 11, 2011<\/a> already exceed $100 billion. Including the loss in stock market wealth — the market’s own estimate arising from expectations of lower corporate profits and higher discount rates for economic volatility — the price tag approaches $2 trillion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Big American companies are sitting on almost $2 trillion<\/strong> of cash because there aren\u2019t enough customers to buy additional goods and services, writes economist Robert Reich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Finance Minister recently said<\/a> that successful implementation of his nation\u2019s goods and service tax (GST) can give a trillion-dollar boost to the economy, taking the total output to $2 trillion<\/strong> in a short span of time.<\/p>\n

Consumers aged 50 and older make up 27% of the total population<\/a> and own between 70 and 79% of all financial assets. This group accounts for more than 40% of total consumer demand and control 50% of all discretionary spending. They buy $2 trillion<\/strong> worth of goods and services each year and spend 2.5 times as much as younger consumers on a per capita basis.<\/p>\n

All in all, that\u2019s a lot of $2 trillion<\/strong> chunks o\u2019change. \u00a0Are all of those numbers based on anything\u2014anything at all? They might be, but the proliferation of that particular figure makes me wonder a bit. And, taken in sum, they offer a 21^{st\u00a0 <\/sup>Century update of a quip made famous by U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen [D-IL], who served in Congress from 1951-1969:\u00a0 “A [tr]illion here, a [tr]illion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.”<\/p>\n}

 <\/p>\n

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