National Debt in the US is $30 Trillion! Can You Work Out This Little Brainteaser About Debt?

A Lot of Zeros

A trillion is a million million or a thousand billion. It has 12 zeros and is a very big number. So, 30 of them is hard to compute. And that’s what the United States owes to its creditors currently.

Let’s bring it back to reality with a short story.

The Debt Puzzle

It’s a quiet day in a small town.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt and pessimistic about the future.

Sound familiar?

On this particular day a wealthy tourist from the big city is travelling through the town.

She stops at the local hotel and tells the receptionist that she wants to stay the night and would like to inspect the bedrooms.

She lays £100 on the reception desk as a deposit and goes upstairs to look.

Money Go Round

As soon as she’s gone, the hotel owner grabs the money and runs across the road to pay off his debt to the butcher.

The butcher then takes the £100 and cycles down to the local farm to clear his debt to the farmer.

Thrilled, the farmer immediately takes the cash and runs to the animal feed supplier to pay his bill.

The feed supplier happily takes the funds and goes next door to pay his landlord, a renowned drinker.

He, in a flash, dashes up to the hotel to pay his overdue bar tab with the hotel owner.

The owner quickly places the money on the desk, so the rich guest doesn’t suspect anything.

Just then, the tourist arrives back from upstairs, picks up the £100 and says that the rooms are unsatisfactory, so she won’t be staying. She puts the money in her purse and leaves.

No one created anything and no one earned anything.

And yet the entire town is now debt-free and looking ahead with great optimism.

A Money Brainteaser

Some would say that this is exactly how the global economy works, only with bigger numbers.

I, however, couldn’t possibly comment ;-)

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